View source for Lawrence Massacre

{{distinguish|text=the [[Sacking of Lawrence]]}}
{{short description|Raid in the American Civil War}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2014}}
{{Infobox civilian attack
| title         = Lawrence Massacre
| partof        = the [[American Civil War]]
| image         = Battle of Lawrence.png
| image_size    = 300
| image_upright = 
| alt           = 
| coordinates = {{coord|38|58|22|N|95|14|10|W|display=inline,title}}
| caption        = An artist's depiction of the destruction of the city of Lawrence, Kansas, and the massacre of its inhabitants by Confederate guerrillas on August 21, 1863
| location     = [[Lawrence, Kansas|Lawrence]], [[Douglas County, Kansas|Douglas County]], [[Kansas]]
| date         = {{start date|1863|08|21}}
| fatalities    = 164 (plus 1 Confederate raider)
| victims       = Civilian population of Lawrence<br />Unmustered Union recruits
| perpetrators  = [[Confederate States Army]]
* [[Quantrill's Raiders]]
* [[William Quantrill|William C. Quantrill]]
| assailants    = 300–400 raiders
| weapons       = 
| numparts      = <!-- or | numpart = -->
| dfens         = <!-- or | dfen = -->
| motive        = Revenge for [[Sacking of Osceola]]
| inquiry       = 
| coroner       = 
| accused       = 
| convicted     = 
| verdict       = 
| convictions   = 
| charges       = 
| litigation    = 
| judge         = 
| website       = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} -->
| module        =
}}
{{Campaignbox Quantrill's Raid into Kansas}}

The '''Lawrence Massacre''' (also known as '''Quantrill's  Raid''') was an attack during the [[American Civil War]] (1861{{en dash}}65) by [[Quantrill's Raiders]], a [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] [[guerrilla warfare|guerrilla]] group led by [[William Quantrill]], on the [[Union (American Civil War)|Unionist]] town of [[Lawrence, Kansas]], killing around 150 men and boys.

The attack, on the morning of Friday August 21, 1863, targeted Lawrence due to the town's long support of [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolition]] and its reputation as a center for the [[Jayhawkers]], who were free-state [[militia]] and [[vigilante]] groups known for attacking plantations in pro-slavery [[Missouri]]'s western counties.

==Background==
{{History of Kansas sidebar}}
By 1863, [[History of Kansas|Kansas]] had long been the center of strife and warfare over the admission of slave states versus free states.

In the summer of 1856, the first [[sacking of Lawrence]] sparked a guerrilla war in Kansas that lasted for years. [[John Brown (abolitionist)|John Brown]] might be the best-known participant in the violence of the late 1850s, participating on the abolitionist or [[Jayhawker]] side, but numerous groups fought for each side during the "[[Bleeding Kansas]]" period.

By the beginning of the [[American Civil War]], Lawrence was already a target for pro-slavery ire, having been seen as the anti-slavery stronghold in the state and, more importantly, a staging area for Unionist and Jayhawker incursions into Missouri. Initially, the town and surrounding area were extremely vigilant and reacted strongly to rumors that enemy forces might be advancing on the town. By the summer of 1863, none of the threats had materialized, so citizen fears had declined, and defense preparations were relaxed.<ref>{{cite book|author=Castel, Albert|title=Civil War Kansas|publisher=[[University Press of Kansas]]|location=[[Lawrence, KS]]|year=1997|pages=124{{en dash}}126}}</ref>

==Motivations==

===Retaliation for Jayhawker attacks===

Lawrence was a headquarters for a band of [[Jayhawker]]s (sometimes called "Red Legs"), who had initiated a campaign in late March 1863 with the purported objective to eliminate civilian support for the Confederate guerrillas. In describing the activities of these soldiers, U.S. Army General Blunt stated,

<blockquote>A reign of terror was inaugurated, and no man's property was safe, nor was his life worth much if he opposed them in their schemes of plunder and robbery.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Blunt, James G.|title=General Blunt's Account of His Civil War Experiences|journal=[[Kansas Historical Society|Kansas Historical Quarterly]]|date=May 1932|volume=1|issue=3|page=239}}</ref></blockquote>

Many Jayhawker leaders like [[Charles R. Jennison|Charles "Doc" Jennison]], [[James Montgomery (colonel)|James Montgomery]], and [[George Henry Hoyt]] terrorized Western Missouri, angering both pro-slavery and anti-slavery civilians and politicians alike.<ref>{{cite book|title=Bloody Dawn: The Story of the Lawrence Massacre|author=Goodrich, Thomas|date=1992|publisher=[[Kent State University Press]]|location=[[Kent, Ohio|Kent, OH]]|isbn=978-0873384766|pages=4{{en dash}}6}}</ref> The historian [[Albert E. Castel|Albert Castel]] thus concludes that revenge was the primary motive, followed by a desire to plunder.<ref name=castel142/>

The survivors confirmed the retaliatory nature of the attack on Lawrence. According to Castel,

<blockquote>The universal testimony of all the ladies and others who talked with the butchers of the 21st ult. is that these demons claimed they were here to revenge the wrongs done their families by our men under Lane, Jennison, Anthony and Co.<ref>{{cite book|author=Castel, Albert|title=Civil War Kansas|publisher=[[University Press of Kansas]]|location=[[Lawrence, KS]]|year=1997|page=136}}</ref></blockquote>

[[Charles L. Robinson]], the first governor of Kansas and an eyewitness to the raid, also characterized the attack as an act of vengeance:

<blockquote>Before this raid the entire border counties of Missouri had experienced more terrible outrages than ever the Quantrill raid at Lawrence... There was no burning of feet and torture by hanging in Lawrence as there was in Missouri, neither were women and children outraged.<ref name=speech/></blockquote> Robinson explained that Quantrill targeted Lawrence because Jayhawkers had attacked Missouri "as soon as war broke out" and Lawrence was "headquarters for the thieves and their plunder."<ref name=speech>{{cite news|title=Governor Robinson's Speech|newspaper=Lawrence Daily Journal and Evening Tribune|date=August 23, 1892|url=http://kansashistoricalopencontent.newspapers.com/image/59722890|access-date=July 3, 2018|page=4|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180703220834/http://kansashistoricalopencontent.newspapers.com/image/59722890/|archive-date=July 3, 2018|url-status=live}} The article provided a synopsis of the speech that Robinson had given in Lawrence on the twenty-ninth anniversary of the raid. Despite being a truncated [[paraphrase]] of the original speech, the article had been approved by Robinson for publication (p. 2).</ref>

Quantrill said his motivation for the attack was "to plunder, and destroy the town in retaliation for Osceola."<ref name=castel142>{{cite book|author=Castel, Albert E.|title=William Clarke Quantrill: His Life and Times|publisher=[[University of Oklahoma Press]]|location=[[Norman, Oklahoma]]|year=1999|page=142}}</ref> That was a reference to the Union's [[Sacking of Osceola|attack on Osceola, Missouri]] in September 1861, led by Senator [[James Henry Lane (Indiana and Kansas)|James H. Lane]]. Osceola was plundered, and nine men were given a [[drumhead court-martial]] trial and executed.<ref>{{cite book|author=Spurgeon, Ian|title=Man of Douglas, Man of Lincoln: The Political Odyssey of James Henry Lane|publisher=[[University of Missouri Press]]|location=[[Columbia, Missouri]]|year=2009|pages=185{{en dash}}188}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Petersen, Paul R.|title=Quantrill of Missouri: The Making of a Guerrilla Warrior – The Man, the Myth, the Soldier|year=2003|page=61|publisher=Cumberland House Publishing|location=[[Nashville, Tennessee]]}}</ref>

===Collapse of the Women's Prison in Kansas City===

The collapse of the Women's Prison in Kansas City is also often believed to have inspired some to join in on the attack.<ref name=qr_kpl>{{cite web |last1=Epps |first1=Kristen |title=Quantrill's Raid on Lawrence |url=http://www.civilwaronthewesternborder.org/encyclopedia/quantrill%E2%80%99s-raid-lawrence |website=Civil War on the Western Border |publisher=[[Kansas City Public Library]] |access-date=June 1, 2018 |date=2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180629070034/http://www.civilwaronthewesternborder.org/encyclopedia/quantrill%E2%80%99s-raid-lawrence |archive-date=June 29, 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref> In a bid to put down the Missouri guerrilla raiders operating in Kansas, General [[Thomas Ewing, Jr.]] issued in April 1863 "General Order No. 10," which ordered the arrest of anyone giving aid or comfort to Confederate guerrillas.<ref>{{cite book|author=Frazier, Harriet C.|title=Runaway and Freed Missouri Slaves and Those Who Helped Them, 1763{{en dash}}1865|year=2004|publisher=[[McFarland & Company]]|location=[[Jefferson, North Carolina]]|page=214}}</ref> This meant chiefly women or girls who were relatives of the guerrillas. Ewing confined those arrested in makeshift prisons in [[Kansas City, Kansas|Kansas City]]. The women were sequentially housed in two buildings which were considered either too small or too unsanitary, before being moved to an empty property at 1425 Grand.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Harris, Charles F.|title=Catalyst for Terror: The Collapse of the Women's Prison In Kansas City|journal=Missouri Historical Review|date=April 1995|pages=294, 295}}</ref> This structure was part of the estate of the deceased Robert S. Thomas, [[George Caleb Bingham]]'s father-in-law. In 1861 Bingham and his family were living in the structure, but in early 1862 after being appointed treasurer of the state of Missouri, he and his family relocated to [[Jefferson City, Missouri|Jefferson City]]. Bingham had added a third story to the existing structure to use as a studio.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Harris, Charles F.|title=Catalyst for Terror: The Collapse of the Women's Prison In Kansas City|journal=Missouri Historical Review|date=April 1995|pages=296, 297}}</ref>

At least ten women or girls, all under the age of 20, were incarcerated in the building when it collapsed on August 13, 1863, killing four: Charity McCorkle Kerr, Susan Crawford Vandever, Armenia Crawford Selvey, and Josephine Anderson—the 15-year-old sister of [[William T. Anderson|William T. "Bloody Bill" Anderson]]. A few days later, Nannie Harris died from her wounds. Survivors of the collapse included Jenny Anderson (crippled by the accident), Susan Anne Mundy Womacks, Martha "Mattie" Mundy, Lucinda "Lou" Mundy Gray, Elizabeth Harris (later married to Deal), and Mollie Grindstaff.<ref name=QuantrillAtLawrence2011>{{cite book | pages = 24, 30 | title = Quantrill at Lawrence: The Untold Story | author = Paul R. Petersen | chapter = Knee Deep in Blood | publisher = [[Pelican Publishing Company]] | date =  2011 |location=[[New Orleans, Louisiana]] | quote = ... Guerrilla Bill Anderson had just removed his sisters from Kansas where for a year they had lived at various places, stopping finally with the Mundy family on the Missouri side of the line near Little Santa Fe. The parents of the Mundy family were dead. One of their sons was in General Sterling Price's Southern army, and three daughters were at home: Susan Mundy Womacks, Martha Mundy, and Mrs. Lou Mundy Gray, whose husband was probably with the guerrillas. The Mundy girls and the three Anderson sisters were arrested as spies. They were confined in a building that served as a jail. ... Guerrilla Nathan Kerr's wife Charity was killed. Brothers William, Marshall, Marion, and Riley Crawford lost two sisters killed. Guerrilla Thomas Harris's sister Nannie was mangled in the jail collapse. Guerrilla James E. Mundy's sisters Susan and Martha, and his married sister Mrs. Lou Mundy Gray, were imprisoned along with William Grindstaff's sister Mollie, but somehow each of them miraculously survived.}}</ref><ref name=CivilWarJournal2011>{{cite journal | url = http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_the_civil_war_era/v001/1.1.whites.html | title = Forty Shirts and a Wagonload of Wheat: Women, the Domestic Supply Line, and the Civil War on the Western Border | author = LeeAnn Whites | journal = The Journal of the Civil War Era | volume = 1 | number = 1 | date = March 2011 | access-date = February 22, 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160222001457/http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_the_civil_war_era/v001/1.1.whites.html | archive-date = February 22, 2016 | url-status = live }}</ref> Anderson's 13-year-old sister, who was shackled to a ball-and-chain inside the jail, suffered multiple injuries including two broken legs.<ref>{{cite book|author=Nichols, Bruce|title=Guerrilla Warfare in Western Missouri, 1861|publisher=[[McFarland & Company]]|location=[[Jefferson, North Carolina]]|year=2004|pages=210}}</ref> Rumors circulated (later promulgated by Bingham who held a personal grudge against Ewing and who would seek financial compensation for the loss of the building) that the guards undermined the structure to cause its collapse.<ref>{{cite news|author=Bingham, George Caleb|newspaper=The Washington Sentinel|title=Article|date=March 9, 1878}}</ref> A 1995 study of the events and affidavits surrounding the collapse concludes this is "the least plausible of the theories." Instead, testimony indicated that alterations to the first floor of the adjoining Cockrell structure for use as a barracks caused the common wall to buckle. The weight of the third story on the former Bingham residence contributed to the resultant collapse.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Harris, Charles F.|title=Catalyst for Terror: The Collapse of the Women's Prison In Kansas City|journal=Missouri Historical Review|date=April 1995|pages=302, 303}}</ref>

Even before the collapse of the jail, the arrest and planned deportation of the girls had enraged Quantrill's guerrillas; George Todd left a note for General Ewing threatening to burn Kansas City unless the girls were freed.<ref>{{cite book|author=Nichols, Bruce|title=Guerrilla Warfare in Western Missouri, 1861|publisher=[[McFarland & Company]]|location=[[Jefferson, North Carolina]]|year=2004|page=209}}</ref> While Quantrill's raid on Lawrence was planned before the collapse of the jail, the deaths of the guerrillas' female relatives undoubtedly added to their thirst for revenge and blood lust during the raid.<ref>{{cite book|author=Leslie, Edward E.|title=The Devil Knows How to Ride|publisher=[[Da Capo Press]]|location=[[Boston, Massachusetts]]|year=1998|pages=193{{en dash}}195}}</ref>

==Attack==

The attack was the product of careful planning. Quantrill had gained the confidence of many of the leaders of independent [[Bushwhacker]] groups and chose the day and time of the attack well in advance. Different Missouri rider groups approached Lawrence from the east in several independent columns. They converged with well-timed precision in the final miles before Lawrence during the pre-dawn hours of the chosen day. Many of the men had been riding for over 24 hours to make the rendezvous and had lashed themselves to their saddles to keep riding if they fell asleep. Almost all were armed with multiple six-shot revolvers.

[[File:Lawrence massacre ruins.jpg|right|thumb|Lawrence in ruins as illustrated in ''[[Harper's Weekly]]''. The charred remains of the [[Eldridge Hotel|Eldridge House]] are in the foreground.]]

Henry Thompson, a black servant from Hesper, attempted to run on foot to Lawrence to warn the town of hundreds of raiders making their way toward Lawrence. Thompson made it as far as [[Eudora, Kansas]] before stopping from exhaustion. An unidentified man riding a [[chaise]] nearby rode by to ask Thompson if he needed help. Thompson replied that he had run from Hesper and needed to warn Lawrence. While Thompson and the man on the chaise were able to gather some Eudorans to ride into Lawrence to warn the city to the west, none of them made it in time.<ref>{{cite news|author=Mach, Tom|url=http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2011/aug/19/little-known-facts-about-quantrills-raid/|title=Little-known facts about Quantrill's Raid|access-date=November 14, 2018|work=[[Lawrence Journal-World]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180910014617/http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2011/aug/19/little-known-facts-about-quantrills-raid/|archive-date=September 10, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref>

Around 450 guerrillas arrived on the outskirts of Lawrence shortly after 5 a.m. A small squad was dispatched to the summit of [[Mount Oread]] to serve as lookouts, and the remainder rode into town. One of the first deaths was the pastor and lieutenant of the 2nd Kansas Colored Regiment,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://quantrillsguerrillas.com/en/articles/126-t-charles-edwin-wells.html|title=Lawrence Raid 08/21/63 Roster of the Victims of the Lawrence Raid Published on the 147th Anniversary|date=August 21, 2010|author=Paul R. Petersen|access-date=June 5, 2020}}</ref> Samuel S. Snyder, who was outside milking his cows when he was shot by the passing raiders, who were making their way into town.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://civilwaronthewesternborder.org/encyclopedia/quantrills-raid-lawrence|author=Kristen Epps|title=Quantrill's Raid on Lawrence|publisher=The Kansas City Public Library|access-date=June 5, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kancoll.org/books/cordley_massacre/quantrel.raid.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021025065731/http://www.kancoll.org/books/cordley_massacre/quantrel.raid.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 25, 2002|title=The Lawrence Massacre, Part One|author=Alec Miller|publisher=University of Kansas Kenneth Spencer Research Library|access-date=June 5, 2020}}</ref> Snyder's death was witnessed by his longtime friend Reverend Hugh Fisher. Their initial focus was the [[Eldridge Hotel|Eldridge House]], a large brick hotel in the heart of Lawrence. After gaining control of the building (which then served as Quantrill's headquarters during the raid), Quantrill's force broke into smaller groups that fanned out throughout the town. Over four hours, the raiders pillaged and burned a quarter of the buildings in Lawrence, including all but two businesses. They looted most of the banks and stores in town and killed over 150 people, all of them men and boys.<ref>{{cite journal |last1= Pringle |first1=Heather |date=April 2010 |title= Digging the Scorched Earth |journal=Archaeology |volume= 63|issue=2 |page=21 }}</ref> According to an 1897 account, among the dead, were 18 of 23 unmustered army recruits.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.bartonccc.edu/library/digibks/fisher/Fisher~Gun.htm|title=The Gun and the Gospel: Early Kansas and Chaplain Fisher|page=194|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081020052312/http://www.bartonccc.edu/library/digibks/fisher/Fisher~Gun.htm|archive-date=October 20, 2008|date=1902|publisher=Hudson-Kimberly Publishing Company|place=Kansas City, MO|author=Fisher, H.D.}}</ref> By 9 a.m., the raiders were on their way out of town, evading the few units that came in pursuit, and eventually splitting up to avoid Union pursuit of a unified column into Missouri.

Some families attempted to make the run towards [[Mount Oread]] in a last-ditch flight for safety.

The raid was less of a battle and more of a mass execution. Two weeks before the attack, a Lawrence newspaper had boasted, "Lawrence has ready for any emergency over five hundred fighting men...every one of who would like to see [Quantrill's raiders]".<ref>{{cite book|author=Goodrich, Thomas|title=Blood Dawn: The Story of the Lawrence Massacre|publisher=[[Kent State University Press]]|location=[[Kent, Ohio]]|year=1991|pages=43{{en dash}}45}}</ref> However, a squad of soldiers temporarily stationed in Lawrence had returned to [[Fort Leavenworth]], and due to the surprise, swiftness, and fury of the initial assault, the local militia was unable to assemble and mount a defense. Most of those Quantrill and his raiders killed were not carrying any weapon. Before the Lawrence Massacre, a previous attack on Lawrence, the [[Sacking of Lawrence]], saw the pro-slavery attackers, led by Samuel J. Jones, a pro-slavery Missourian who served as Sheriff of [[Douglas County, Kansas|Douglas County]], demanding that the citizens of Lawrence give up their firearms to the raiders. Many citizens initially refused, but by the end of the sacking itself, many in Lawrence were left without a weapon of any sort, which, along with the swiftness of the Lawrence Massacre later on, saw Lawrence left defenseless against the attack.

Because revenge was a principal motive for the attack, Quantrill's raiders entered Lawrence with lists of men to be killed and buildings to be burned. Senator [[James Henry Lane (Union general)|James H. Lane]] was at the top of the list. Lane was a military leader and chief political proponent of the jayhawking raids that had cut a swath of death, plundering, and arson through western Missouri (including the destruction of Osceola) in the early months of the Civil War.<ref>{{cite web|author=Castel, Albert|title=Kansas Jayhawking Raids into Western Missouri in 1861|year=1959|url=http://www.civilwarstlouis.com/History2/casteljayhawking.htm|access-date=August 3, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140314004005/http://www.civilwarstlouis.com/History2/casteljayhawking.htm|archive-date=March 14, 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> Lane escaped death by racing through a cornfield in his nightshirt. John Speer, who Lane had put into the newspaper business, was one of Lane's chief political backers and was also on the list.<ref>{{cite book|author=Castel, Albert|title=Civil War Kansas|publisher=[[University Press of Kansas]]|location=Lawrence|year=1997|page=28}}</ref> Speer likewise escaped execution, but two of his sons were killed in the raid. (One of Speer's sons may have been the same John L. Speer that appeared on a list of Red Legs previously issued by the Union military.<ref>{{cite web|website=The Missouri in the Civil War Message Board|title=Blunt, General Orders-No. 1., Headquarter District of Kansas, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, November 15, 1862|url=http://history-sites.com/cgi-bin/bbs62x/mocwmb/webbbs_config.pl?md=read;id=17048|access-date=October 2, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304084116/http://history-sites.com/cgi-bin/bbs62x/mocwmb/webbbs_config.pl?md=read;id=17048|archive-date=March 4, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>) Speer's youngest son, 15-year-old Billy, may have been included on the death lists, but Quantrill's men released him after he gave them a false name. (Billy Speer later shot one of the raiders during their exit from Lawrence, causing one of the few casualties among Quantrill's command while in Lawrence.)<ref>{{cite book|author=Leslie, Edward E.|title=The Devil Knows How to Ride|publisher=[[Da Capo Press]]|location=Boston|year=1998|pages=224{{en dash}}234}}</ref> [[Charles L. Robinson]], first governor of Kansas and a prominent abolitionist, may also have been on the list, although he was not killed.<ref>{{cite book|author=Robinson, Charles|title=The Kansas Conflict|url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924083921332|publisher=[[Harper (publisher)|Harper and Brother]]|location=New York|year=1892|page=[https://archive.org/details/cu31924083921332/page/n474 447]}}</ref> This according to [[Richard Cordley]], a minister in Lawrence and a survivor of the attack:

<blockquote>Ex-Governor Charles Robinson was an object of special search among them. He was one of the men they particularly wanted. During the whole time they were in town he was in his large stone barn on the hillside. He had just gone to the barn to get his team to drive out into the country, when he saw them come in and saw them make their first charge. He concluded to remain where he was. The barn overlooked the whole town, and he saw the affair from beginning to end. Gangs of raiders came by several times and looked at the barn and went round it, but it looked so much like a fort, that they kept out of range.<ref name=revchapter15/></blockquote>

Cordley was also on the list of men Quantrill wanted to kill. In some of his writings, Quantrill later lamented that he did not kill Cordley, "The Abolition Preacher."{{cn|date=May 2020}}

While many of the victims had been specifically targeted beforehand, executions were more indiscriminate among segments of the raiders, particularly Todd's band that operated in the western part of Lawrence.<ref>{{cite book|author=Castel, Albert|title=Civil War Kansas|publisher=[[University Press of Kansas]]|location=Lawrence|year=1997|page=130}}</ref> The men and boys riding with "Bloody Bill" Anderson also accounted for a disproportionate number of the Lawrence dead. The raid devolved into extreme brutality; according to witnesses, the raiders murdered a group of men and their sons who had surrendered under assurances of safety, murdered a father who was in a field with his son, shot a defenseless man who was lying sick in bed, killed an injured man who was being held by his pleading wife, and bound a pair of men and forced them into a burning building where they slowly burned to death.<ref>{{cite book|author=Castel, Albert E.|title=William Clarke Quantrill: His Life and Times|publisher=[[University of Oklahoma Press]]|location=Norman|year=1999|pages=129{{en dash}}131}}</ref><ref name=revchapter15>{{cite book|author=Cordley, Richard|title=A History of Lawrence Kansas, from the Earliest Settlement to the Close of the Rebellion|publisher=Lawrence Journal Press|location=Lawrence|year=1895|url=http://www.kancoll.org/books/cordley_history/ch_ch15.htm|chapter=Chapter XV|access-date=October 2, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181024203935/http://www.kancoll.org/books/cordley_history/ch_ch15.htm|archive-date=October 24, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> Another dramatic story was told in a letter written on September 7, 1863, by H.M. Simpson, whose entire family narrowly escaped death by hiding in a nearby cornfield as the massacre raged all around them:

<blockquote>My father was very slow to get into the cornfield. He was so indignant at the ruffians that he was unwilling to retreat before them. My little children were in the field three hours. They seemed to know that if they cried the noise would betray their parents whereabouts, and so they kept as still as mice. The baby was very hungry & I gave her an ear of raw green corn which she ate ravenously.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/213271 |title=H.M. Simpson to Hiram Hill |last1=Simpson |first1=H.M. |date=September 7, 1863 |website=Kansas Memory |publisher=Kansas Historical Society |access-date=February 19, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140226232227/http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/213271 |archive-date=February 26, 2014 |url-status=live }}</ref></blockquote>

Many have characterized Quantrill's decision to kill young boys alongside adult men as a particularly reprehensible aspect of the raid.<ref>{{cite book|author=Schultz, Duane|title=Quantrill's War: The Life and Times of William Clarke Quantrill, 1837{{en dash}}1865|publisher=[[St. Martin's Press]]|location=New York|year=1997}} Chapter 9 is entitled, "Kill Every Man Big Enough to Carry a Gun", an alleged Quantrill quote.</ref> Bobbie Martin is generally cited as being the youngest victim; some histories of the raid state he could have been as young as ten to twelve years old,<ref>{{cite book|author=Connelley, William Elsey|title=Quantrill and the Border Wars|url=https://archive.org/details/quantrillborderw00connuoft|publisher=The Torch Press|location=[[Cedar Rapids, Iowa]]|year=1910|pages=362{{en dash}}363|access-date=November 2, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160922032250/https://archive.org/details/quantrillborderw00connuoft|archive-date=September 22, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> while others state he was fourteen.<ref>{{cite book|author=Leslie, Edward E.|title=The Devil Knows How to Ride: The True Story of William Clarke Quantrill and his Confederate Raiders|publisher=[[Da Capo Press]]|location=Boston|year=1996|page=226}}</ref> Most accounts state he was wearing a Union soldier uniform or clothing made from his father's uniform; some state he was carrying a musket and cartridges.<ref>{{cite book|author=Goodrich, Thomas|title=Blood Dawn: The Story of the Lawrence Massacre|publisher=[[Kent State University Press]]|location=[[Kent, Ohio]]|year=1991|page=104}}</ref> (For perspective on the age of participants in the conflict, it has been estimated that about 800,000 Union soldiers were seventeen years of age or younger, with about 100,000 of those being fifteen or younger.)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.civilwarhome.com/boysinwar.htm|access-date=October 2, 2017|title=Boys in the Civil War!|website=CivilWarHome|date=February 15, 2002|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171023204010/http://www.civilwarhome.com/boysinwar.htm|archive-date=October 23, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> Most of Quantrill's guerrilla fighters were teenagers. One of the youngest was Riley Crawford, who was 13 when taken by his mother to Quantrill after her husband was shot and her home burned by Union soldiers.<ref>{{cite book|author=Petersen, Paul R.|title=Quantrill of Missouri: The Making of a Guerrilla Warrior – The Man, the Myth, the Soldier|year=2003|page=226|publisher=Cumberland House Publishing|location=[[Nashville, Tennessee]]}}</ref>

==Aftermath==
Once the confederates withdrew to the southeast, Lane led a small group of survivors of the massacre in pursuit of Quantrill's men and was joined by a force of about 200 U.S. Army cavalrymen, commanded by [[Major (United States)|Major]] [[Preston B. Plumb]]. They overtook the raiders south of the town of [[Brooklyn, Kansas]] and fought the first of several engagements, beginning with the [[Skirmish near Brooklyn, Kansas]].

The Lawrence massacre was one of the bloodiest events in the history of Kansas. The [[Plymouth Congregational Church (Lawrence, Kansas)|Plymouth Congregational Church]] in Lawrence survived the attack, but a number of its members were killed and records destroyed.<ref name="Plymouth-History">{{cite web|last=Sellen|first=Al|url=http://www.plymouthlawrence.com/who/history/|title=A Brief Outline of Plymouth's History|publisher=Plymouth Congregational Church|access-date=2010-09-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100528051934/http://www.plymouthlawrence.com/who/history/|archive-date=May 28, 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref> Cordley, the pastor at Plymouth, said to his congregation a few days after the attack, "My friends, Lawrence may seem dead, but she will rise again in a more glorious resurrection. Our ranks have been thinned by death, but let us 'close-up' and hold the ground [of Kansas]. The conflict may not be ended, but the victory must be ours. We may perish but the principles for which we contend will live."

A day after the attack, some of the surviving citizens of Lawrence [[Lynching|lynch]]ed a member of Quantrill's Raiders who was caught in the town.<ref>Kerby, Robert L. ''Kirby Smith's Confederacy: The Trans-Mississippi South, 1863&ndash; 1865''. Tuscaloosa and London: The University of Alabama Press, Reprint. Originally published New York: Columbia University Press, 1972. {{ISBN|978-0-8173-0546-8}}. p. 210.</ref> On August 25, General Ewing authorized [[General Order No. 11 (1863)|General Order No. 11]] (not to be confused with General [[Ulysses S. Grant]]'s  [[General Order No. 11 (1862)|General Order of the same name]]) evicting thousands of Missourians in four counties from their homes near the Kansas border. Virtually everything in these counties was then systematically burned to the ground. The action was carried out by the Jayhawker, [[Charles "Doc" Jennison]]. Jennison's raids into Missouri were thorough and indiscriminate. They left four counties in western Missouri wasted, save for the standing brick chimneys of the two-story period houses, which are still called "Jennison Monuments" in those parts.{{Citation needed|reason=unsourced|date=May 2024}}

George Miller, a Missouri abolitionist and preacher, described the role of the Lawrence Massacre in the region's descent into the horror of [[total war]] on the civilian populations of both eastern Kansas and western Missouri:

<blockquote>Viewed in any light, the Lawrence Raid will continue to be held, as the most infamous event of the uncivil war! The work of destruction did not stop in Kansas. The cowardly criminality of this spiteful reciprocity lay in the fact that each party knew, but did not care, that the consequences of their violent acts would fall most heavily upon their own helpless friends. [[Charles R. Jennison|Jenison]] in 1861 rushed into Missouri when there was no one to resist, and robbed and killed and sneaked away with his spoils and left the union people of Missouri to bear the vengeance of his crimes. Quantrell {{sic}} in 1863 rushed into Lawrence, Kansas, when there was no danger, and killed and robbed and sneaked off with his spoils, leaving helpless women and children of his own side to bear the dreadful vengeance invoked by that raid. So the Lawrence raid was followed by swift and cruel retribution, falling, as usual in this border warfare, upon the innocent and helpless, rather than the guilty ones. Quantrell {{sic}} left Kansas with the loss of one man. The Kansas troops followed him, at a respectful distance, and visited dire vengeance on all western Missouri. Unarmed old men and boys were accused and shot down, and homes with their now meagre comforts were burned, and helpless women and children turned out with no provision for the approaching winter. The number of those killed was never reported, as they were scattered all over western Missouri.<ref>{{cite book|author=Miller, George|title=Missouri's Memorable Decade, 1860{{en dash}}1870|publisher=E.W. Stephens|location=[[Columbia, MO]]|date=1898|pages=100{{en dash}}101|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=57EdAQAAMAAJ&q=Viewed+in+any+light%2C+the+Lawrence+Raid+will+continue+to+be+held%2C+as+the+most+infamous+event+of+the+uncivil+war&pg=PA100|access-date=May 29, 2018|df=mdy-all|chapter=Quantrill's Raid on Lawrence, 'Order No. 11' and Attendant Horrors; Desolation Ends All|isbn=978-0722207130}}</ref></blockquote>

After the attack, Quantrill led his men south to Texas for the winter. By the next year, the raiders had disintegrated as a unified force and could not achieve similar successes. Quantrill died of wounds he received in Kentucky in 1865, with only a few staunch supporters left. Among those who remained by his side were [[Frank James]] and his younger brother, [[Jesse James]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Wellman, Paul I.|title=A Dynasty of Western Outlaws|year=1961|publisher=[[University of Nebraska Press]]|location=Lincoln|page=61}}</ref>

After Quantrill's attack, the U.S. Army erected several [[Mount Oread Civil War posts|military posts on Mount Oread]], including Camp Ewing, Camp Lookout, and Fort Ulysses, to keep guard over the rebuilt city. No further attacks were made on Lawrence, and these installations were eventually abandoned and dismantled after the war.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Pollard, Jr|first1=William C.|title=Kansas Forts During the Civil War|url=http://www.vlib.us/old_west/forts1865.html|website=Kansas History|access-date=May 29, 2018|date=1992|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180403212357/http://www.vlib.us/old_west/forts1865.html|archive-date=April 3, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Bisel|first1=Debra Goodrich|last2=Martin|first2=Michelle M.|title=Kansas Forts & Bases: Sentinels on the Prairie|date=2013|publisher=[[Arcadia Publishing|The History Press]]|location=[[Charleston, SC]]|isbn=978-1614238683|chapter=Camp Ewing: 1864{{en dash}}1865}}</ref>

==In popular culture==
*The 1940 film ''[[Dark Command]]'', based on a novel of the same name, is a fictionalized account of the events presented in classic B-movie western style. The film bore no resemblance to the events of history.
*The battle is depicted in the [[Audie Murphy]] western ''[[Kansas Raiders]]'' (1950), in [[Ang Lee]]'s 1999 film ''[[Ride with the Devil (film)|Ride with the Devil]]'', and in the [[Steven Spielberg]]-produced 2005 miniseries ''[[Into the West (TV miniseries)|Into the West]]''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042629/plotsummary?ref_=tt_stry_pl|title=Kansas Raiders (1950) – Plot Summary |publisher=[[IMDb]]|access-date=May 15, 2020}}</ref>
*The 1968 movie ''[[Bandolero!]]'' references the event.
*There is a section in [[Charles Portis]]'s 1968 book, ''[[True Grit (novel)|True Grit]]'' in which the characters Marshal [[Rooster Cogburn (character)|Rooster Cogburn]] and Texas Ranger LaBoeuf argue about Quantrill. LaBoeuf calls him a murderer; Cogburn, who "rode with" Quantrill, calls him a patriot. LaBoeuf ends the argument after Cogburn refers to "Captain Quantrill," ridiculing the title: "Captain of what?" This conversation later appeared in the [[True Grit (1969 film)|1969]] and [[True Grit (2010 film)|2010]] films.
*The 1979 TV movie ''[[The Legend of the Golden Gun]]'' was about chasing down Quantrill.
*The Lawrence massacre is a central episode in ''Wildwood Boys'' (2000), a [[biographical novel]] about [[Bloody Bill Anderson]] by [[James Carlos Blake]].
*In the "Weekend Warriors" episode of ''[[Psych]]'' (season 1, episode 6, originally aired August 11, 2006) the murder of the person playing Quantrill in a reenactment of the massacre is the episode's focus.

==See also==
{{Portal|American Civil War}}
* [[Bushwhacker|Bushwhacking]] a form of [[guerrilla warfare]] common during the [[American Revolutionary War]], [[American Civil War]]
* [[George and Annie Bell House]]
* [[List of battles fought in Kansas]]
* [[List of massacres in Kansas]]

==References==
'''Notes'''
{{Reflist}}

'''Further reading'''
* Albert E. Castel. ''Civil War Kansas: Reaping the Whirlwind'' (1997) {{ISBN?}}
* Albert E. Castel. ''William Clarke Quantrill: His Life and Times'' (1999) [https://www.amazon.com/William-Clarke-Quantrill-Life-Times/dp/0806130814/  excerpt and text search]
* Thomas Goodrich, ''Bloody Dawn: The Story of the Lawrence Massacre'' (1992) {{ISBN?}}
*Paul I. Wellman. ''A Dynasty of Western Outlaws'' (1961). (On the formative background of the Kansas-Missouri border wars on the post-war western outlaws, notably the James-Younger gang.) {{ISBN?}}
*Richard F. Sunderwirth, "'The Burning' Of Osceola Missouri" (2007) {{ISBN?}}

==External links==
*[https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search-battles-detail.htm?battleCode=KS001 National Park Service battle description]
*[http://www.kansastravel.org/quantrillslawrenceraid.htm Tour and photos of Lawrence Quantrill's Raid sites]
*[http://stellar-one.com/guerilla/ Other reports that mention Quantrill's Raid and the Lawrence Massacre]
*[http://www.civilwarhistory.com/quantrill/quantrill.htm Civil War history site article on Quantrill]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20021025065731/http://www.kancoll.org/books/cordley_massacre/quantrel.raid.html Rev. R. Cordley's Description of the Massacre (published in 1865)] {Partial list of killed/wounded/missing}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20191023172108/http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/HNS/Kansas/fisher3.html 1897 account "Guns and the Gospel" with a listing of Lawrence Massacre Victims at the end of Chapter 22]
*[https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/10285 Monument to victims of William C. Quantrill]

{{Kansas in the Civil War}}
{{Lawrence, Kansas}}
{{authority control}}

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