william quantrill quotes william quantrill quotes

The Ledger in yet another article on Friday, November 1, 1907, reported, Monday, Mr. Langford brought this office a batch of letters from W.W. Scott, of Canal Dover, Ohio, where Quantrells [sic] mother resided until her death and where the guerrilla was born and raised. After what became known as the First Battle of Independence, the Confederate government decided to secure the loyalty of Quantrill by issuing him a "formal army commission" to the rank of captain. Early in the morning of August 21, Quantrill descended from Mount Oread and attacked Lawrence at the head of a combined force of as many as 450 guerrilla fighters. Complete your free account to request a guide. He also learned the profitability of capturing runaway slaves and devised plans to use free black men as bait for runaway slaves, whom he subsequently captured and returned to their masters in exchange for reward money[citation needed]. Thirty-two such reunions were held, with the image of William Quantrill adopted as a kind of icon for the veterans, who posed with his portrait and wore ribbons with his image. Union counter-measures included the death penalty for interfering with the railroads. William Quantrill's raid on the Free-State town of Lawrence, Kansas (also known as the Lawrence Massacre) was a defining moment in the border conflict. Dupuy, Trevor N., Johnson, Curt, and Bongard, David L.. Crouch, Barry A. He served the Confederacy and perhaps hoped to secure high rank and recognition from its leaders. The rifled muskets carried by the Union cavalry were unwieldy on horseback, so Johnston ordered his men to dismount and form a line, with a quarter of his force held back to hold the horses. During the caravan, Quantrill was heavily guarded but treated with respect. Born in Canal Dover (today, simply called Dover), Ohio, on July 31, 1837, Quantrill was a bright but troubled young man. Perhaps as bad as the man he was hunting down.. For shelter, they would dig or find a cave in an inaccessible spot deep in the woods and conceal the entrance. Both sides founded groups that sponsored and located settlers of their political persuasions: antislavery abolitionist jayhawkers to Kansas and states-rights proslavery secessionists to Missouri. Several female relatives of the guerrillas had been imprisoned in a makeshift jail in Kansas City, Missouri. All were killed, save one sergeant, who spent several unhappy weeks as Andersons prisoner, the only one Bloody Bill was ever known to have taken. Complete all tasks in a timely manner, meaning as soon as possible. The confidence of the men in their leader was slipping; many suspected that as a Northerner, Quantrill fought for no principles, just self-serving purposes of gathering plunder and increasing military rank. Showing in galleries and special shows around the country. William Quotes. Clements opened fire on them and the rest of the bushwackers joined in. The shirt indicated the relationship the wearer had with its creator, mother, wife, sister, or girlfriend and was a symbol of the important role women played in sustaining the guerrillas and nursing their wounds. He delighted in taking scalps and slitting throats. While some guerrillas attempted to start new lives, others had developed a taste for theft and butchery that could not be sated in peace-time. They're like having in-class notes for every discussion!, This is absolutely THE best teacher resource I have ever purchased. After killing their captives execution-style but shots to the head, the guerrillas brought out their Bowie knives and tomahawks and spent the coming hours in what a witness described as a carnival of blood, dismembering, scalping, mutilating and decapitating their near-naked victims. After the raid on Lawrence, during the winter of 1863- 1864, Quantrill lost control of his guerrilla forces. Terrell himself held the poorest of reputations. He worked for us. As Anderson launched a furious charge, the Union volley went high. [citation needed]. [29] The William Clarke Quantrill Society continues to celebrate Quantrill's life and deeds.[29]. These men were stripped and Anderson made a small speech, letting them know You are all to be killed and sent to hell.. Price was strongly criticized by Jefferson Davis and others for his misuse of the guerrillas. Viewed as outlaws, Quantrills men faced certain death if captured in Missouri. Listen carefully to instructions and never expect to be told anything a second time. Both photos show that his left ring finger has been cut off, likely to retrieve his ring. Brilliantly weaving together eyewitness accounts, letters, memories, newspaper articles, and military reports into a riveting narrative, this definitive biography reveals the personality of William Clarke Quantrill (1837-1865) and the events that transformed a quiet Ohio schoolteacher from a staunchly Unionist family into a virulent pro-slavery Confederate soldier and the most feared and . 4. Quantrill was questioned as he lay motionless in the field, but still with a lot of contempt in him he gave his name as Captain William Clarke of the 4th Missouri Confederate Calvary and asked permission to be allowed to die where he lay. Murder, mutilation, looting, and arson were not quickly forgotten crimes and there was little chance they could be considered as simply the fortunes of war. Arriving in the morning, the guerrillas looted the town, drinking all the whiskey they could find. For the mostly teenage gunmen of Missouri, the war was more a matter of personal rebellion than political rebellion. Were they able to loot stores and rob civilians? In the spring of 1865, now leading only a few dozen pro-confederates, Quantrill staged a series of raids in western Kentucky. In an article published Friday, October 11, 1907, the newspaper states, Here in Gentry County, some five or six miles from Albany, resides a man in the person of John Langford who has the distinction of having shot the guerrilla. But public opinion had turned against the raiders. Beginning with a small group of men fighting the pre-war Kansas Jayhawkers, Quantrill eventually came to lead hundreds of guerrillas. God damn his little soul, hes a Dutchman anyway., Bill offered some simple advice to the citizens of Missouri: If you proclaim to be against the guerrillas I will kill you. At the other end of the clearing were Andersons men, waiting by their horses. The final death toll was three guerrillas to at least 116 Union dead. Lacking any real authority from the Confederate Army, Bushwacker chieftains relied on respect, charisma, courage, and ferocity to hold their commands. Menu. Here we can see posters from some of these highly fictional films, Quantrills Raiders, Kansas Raiders, The Bushwackers, and The Outlaw Josey Wales, in which the 24-year-old Anderson was played by the 55-year-old John Russell. The Centralia battlefield was excavated by archeologists, who published their report in 2008. Sawed-off shotguns were also in use and the personal arsenal was usually completed with Bowie knives and tomahawks for hand-to-hand fighting. William Quantrill The nonfictional leader of a pro-Confederate group of men who tore through Kansas and Missouri fighting Union soldiers and sympathizers. Rita Skeeter's Quick-Quotes Quill taking notes. Seeing his target go down, Langford turned to assist the other soldiers of the Kentucky regiment. [27] The historian Matthew Christopher Hulbert argues that Quantrill "ruled the bushwhacker pantheon" established by ex-Confederate officer and propagandist John Newman Edwards in the 1870s to provide Missouri with its own "irregular Lost Cause". PDFs of modern translations of every Shakespeare play and poem. At the time of his death, she was 17. They settled at Marais des Cygnes, but things did not go as well as planned. 3. Later in 1862, John Jarrett, John Brown (not to be confused with the abolitionist John Brown), Cole Younger, William T. "Bloody Bill" Anderson, and the James brothers would join Quantrill's army. With the declaration of war in 1861, the North and South separated into usually well-defined areas of battle geography that marked the American Civil War. While it is possible that at least half the Missouri population were against secession, repressive measures by out-of-state Union forces turned many into reluctant supporters of the Southern cause. Almost two years later, Terrell, the Union renegade, was shot by the town marshal of Shelbyville, after fleeing from prosecution for the murder of an Illinois stock merchant. Those acquainted with him will understand why he has never been given prominence by the press for the act. When the command returned to west-central Missouri in the spring of 1864, the final break occurred. Many guerrillas involved in Quantrills last foray into Kentucky met violent ends. Much of the dramatic build-up to the Civil War centered on the violence that erupted on the KansasMissouri border between pro- and anti-slavery militias. Even as the smoke cleared from the attack on Lawrence, Southern support for Quantrills Raiders was beginning to fade. Politics provided only a veneer of legitimacy for their violence and descent into depravity. Anderson was beside himself with anger and now became dedicated to a single purpose; the killing of as many Union soldiers as possible. He continued to claim that he was Captain Clarke of the 4th Missouri Cavalry, knowing he would be executed if his earlier confession was discovered. The guerrillas swore revenge and took it on September 27, 1864, at the Missouri town of Centralia. American Confederate guerilla leader (18371865). Battles & Tribes, American Revolution Germans (who were called Dutch by the guerrillas) were routinely murdered by the bushwhackers, who regarded all of them as Unionists. However, most of the soldiers fighting the guerrillas were young, inexperienced conscripts of the Missouri militia. Instead of dismissing Anderson and his wild bushwackers, Price, desperate for support, issued a written order to Captain Anderson to destroy the North Mississippi Railroad. Was there plenty of whiskey and hootin and hollerin and shootin things up? From this point on, the guerrillas fought in their own interest, not the Confederacies. Having endured a tempestuous childhood before later becoming a schoolteacher, Quantrill joined a group of bandits who roamed the Missouri and Kansas countryside to apprehend escaped slaves. The rest of his body was dragged through the streets. Quantrill's mother, Caroline Quantrill described her son this way. Many had no homes left to go to, and there was always the danger of being waylaid by vigilantes. On the evening of September 6, 1862, William Quantrill led his Confederate guerrillas, numbering from 125 to 150, in a raid against Olathe, Kansa s. The raid resulted in a half dozen deaths and the destruction of most of the town. I am trying to get action. According to Langfords letter, as the Terrell scouting party approached the Wakefield farm that May day in 1865, the Quantrill gang stampeded just as the scouts reached the fence around the barn. Nevertheless, the police strongly urged him to leave Mendota. Authors; The next year, their first child was born and they named her Katie Scarlett, Margaret Mitchell We endure hard times by the power of God. When Mattie tells Rooster that LaBoeuf is a Texas Ranger, he simply makes fun of the man, disparaging his Texan vanity. Bill Anderson arrived in Kansas as a child in 1857 along with his Southern parents, two brothers, and three sisters. Coming in range, fire was opened and yells set up to terrify the Missourians.. Mayes was a half Scots-Irish and half Cherokee Confederate sympathizer and a war chief of the Cherokee Nations in Texas. When Quantrill executed one of Andersons men for robbing and murdering a farmer, that was the last straw for Bloody Bill. Anderson ordered Clements to muster out the naked prisoners. Anderson, typically, decided direct action was appropriate. Anderson simply replied: Oh, string him up. Langford, in pursuit, made his selection. Soon Bill was mounting small raids into Missouri, though his devotion to the Confederate cause was questionable he told a friend he was trying to recruit that he didnt care anything about the South, but there was good money in bushwacking. A squadron of around 425-450 guerrilla fighters prepared to cross the border into . The aims and reputation of the Confederacy would henceforth play little if any role in determining his strategy and tactics. All the passengers were robbed and some murdered except for 25 unarmed Union soldiers. Martin Kelly. Whether it was in retaliation for an attack by Senator James H. Lanes jayhawkers on Osceola, or revenge for the collapse of a womens prison in Kansas City that killed relatives of Bloody Bill Anderson and other guerrillas, the event that would come to be called the Lawrence Massacre was one of the largest and most significant acts of violence on civilians in the American Civil War. On his person was a letter from his wife with locks of hair belonging to her and their child, $600 in gold and greenbacks, $15 in Confederate script, a small Confederate flag presented to him by a friend, and Prices written order to Captain Anderson. There was also a silk cord to which Bill was said to add one knot for every man he killed by his own hands. With Anderson and Quantrill parting company before leaving Texas, Todd took command of the larger remaining splinter group. Price and Anderson met again later that day. "At the same time I will counsel patience. Cutting the telegraph led to one captured guerrilla executed and the torching of every home within a ten-mile radius of the cut. Bloody Bill, the guerrillas, and the bloodshed along the Missouri Kansas border all became fodder for novels and films in the 20th century. During the weeks immediately preceding the raid, Union General Thomas Ewing, Jr., had ordered the detention of any civilians giving aid to Quantrill's Raiders. Warned about the attack, the Union soldiers were able to repel the raiders, who torched part of the town before they retreated.[16]. Bandits and renegades on both sides roamed freely throughout, robbing and killing at will. Dave Poole was one of Quantrills lieutenants and seems to have thought of himself as quite witty. The way the content is organized. Jesse, at sixteen, later joined Andersons band when Frank was still riding with Bloody Bill. In January 1864, Union authorities recognized that the actions of the Jayhawkers were ineffective in countering the guerrillas but exceptional in turning the people against the Union by their murder, looting, and arson. Updated on January 08, 2020. A solitary youngster with few friends, young Quantrill is said to have relished inflicting pain and torture on animals, finding pleasure in stabbing horses and cattle by the roadside to hear them scream. I lived in Kansas when this war commenced. They were glad to see Quantrill, Todd, and Anderson head back north to Missouri in March 1864. One was led by his lieutenant, "Bloody Bill" Anderson, and Quantrill joined it briefly in the fall of 1864 during a fight north of the Missouri River. In their initial formation, Quantrill's Raiders were nothing more than a collection of pro-Confederate men who fought Union sympathizers in Missouri and Kansas, both of which were (more or less) under control of the Union at the time. They never married, although she often visited and lived in camp with Quantrill and his men. [25], Another legend that has circulated claims that Quantrill may have escaped custody and fled to Arkansas, where he lived under the name of L.J. With perhaps a bit of trepidation still in his heart, he delayed releasing much information locally except to family and close friends. But the security of Quantrills crew was misplaced. QUOTES. It was a pro-Confederate partisan ranger outfit that was best known for its often brutal guerrilla tactics. I will hunt you down like wolves and murder you. Quantrill, William Clarke (1837-1865). A doctor examined him and advised him that his days were numbered and he should settle his business affairs. Abraham Lincoln Quotes Albert Einstein Quotes Bill Gates Quotes Bob Marley Quotes Bruce Lee Quotes Buddha Quotes Confucius Quotes John F. Kennedy Quotes John Lennon Quotes Mahatma Gandhi Quotes Marilyn Monroe Quotes Mark Twain Quotes. It would forever alter the destiny of William C. Quantrill and his infamous Raiders. The Kansas City Journal proposed that the bushwackers should be decently treated, decently tried, decently convicted and decently hung.. Newsletter On the bloody August day when Quantrills renegade band of more than four hundred guerrillas attacked Lawrence, which was then known as the center of antislavery sentiment, many of the bushwhackers allied with or under the leadership of Quantrill would not participate in the carnage. By the time the war started, Missouris pro-rebel guerrillas were known as Bushwackers, while their pro-Federal counterparts in Kansas were known as Jayhawkers or Redlegs from their preference for red pants as a type of uniform. [12], On March 11, 1862, Quantrill joined Confederate forces under Colonel John T. Hughes and took part in attack on Independence, Missouri. LitCharts Teacher Editions. And that is the terrible truth of the story of Bloody Bill Anderson. [23], Quantrill was buried in an unmarked grave, which is now marked, in what later became known as St. John's Cemetery in Louisville. Once the hardened Second Colorado Cavalry took the field against them in 1864, the guerrillas began to take significant losses. Langford described the shooting in few words: I shot him in the left shoulderjust back of the shoulder bladethe ball ranging downward and lodging in the right groin. Quantrill was reportedly shot a second time as he fell, the bullet cutting off the trigger finger of his right hand. Mayes enlisted and served as a private in Company A of the 1st Cherokee Regiment in the Confederate army. Struggling with distance learning? It looks like we don't have any Quotes for this title yet. These old-timers had all fought together in the border strife under Quantrills black standard, and afterward led dangerous lives, and now this was all they were fit for, to show themselves to the public like strange wild beasts of the jungle. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one: ). During a tumultuous winter in Texas, the group divided into bands, each commanded by a lieutenant such as George Todd and Bloody Bill Anderson. At this time, many Ohioans were migrating to the Kansas Territory in search of cheap land and opportunity. Their favorite long-arm was the breech-loading 1859 Sharps rifle, easy to handle on horseback, especially in its carbine version. HE RODE WITH, Would not have made it through AP Literature without the printable PDFs. He led a charge expecting results similar to those at Centralia, but the veteran Union troops laid down a withering fire that brought the charge to a halt at 100 yards distance. By late 1866 there was such an upsurge in violence in Missouri that all men of military age were again ordered to report for registration in the militia. His parents were Thomas Henry and Caroline Cornelia (Clarke) Quantrill. [22] He was brought by wagon to Louisville, Kentucky, and taken to the military prison hospital, on the north side of Broadway at 10th Street. On August 14, the building collapsed, killing four young women and seriously injuring others. Biographies Quantrill captured the military outpost and tried forcing the men to swear an oath to the Confederacy. The True Grit quotes below are all either spoken by William Quantrill or refer to William Quantrill. With the end of the Civil War around the corner, the Union had driven the formal Confederate army presence from Missouri and was redirecting troops to hunt down the guerrilla bands still operating in the upper South. But devotion to a cause and carrying out orders were not to Quantrills liking. When the Civil War erupted, pro-slavery guerilla warfare had already been going on for several years in "Bloody Kansas." He went onto to become a Confederate Captain in 1862. If the South had won the war there would have been statues erected in his memory and countless mothers would have named their children after him. Quantrills last battle occurred in a pasture and wooded draw and barn lot near Taylorville in Spencer County, Kentucky, on May 10, 1865. It was the first public sign of the combination of vicious anger and callous regard for life that would characterize his short career as a guerrilla leader. As a result, Todd became a captain and Anderson a lieutenant, but these ranks existed only within the unit and do not appear to have ever been commissioned officially by the CSA. The very nature of warfare in Civil War Missouri, often unseen and unrecorded, has rendered it difficult to produce a definitive account of the guerrillas despite the best efforts of many highly competent historians. Quantrill's men believed that the collapse was deliberate, which fanned them into a fury. [18] When Quantrill's men rode out at 9 a.m., most of Lawrence's buildings were burning, including all but two businesses. Perhaps showing some detachment from reality, Bloody Bill rode up to Price and Governor Reynolds with scalps hanging from his saddle. Terrell provided wagon transportation to a military hospital and prison in Louisville. [19], In early October, Quantrill and his men rode south to Texas, where they decided to pass the winter. William Quantrill was a pro-slavery guerilla leader during the Civil War. Quantrills band broke up in the spring of 1864 after the guerrilla leader backed down from a challenge from George Todd. As a joke, Clements, Poole and 25 heavily-armed former bushwackers rode into Lexington in military formation to report for militia duty. One of the main units engaged against Anderson, the 17th Illinois Cavalry, was described by their commanding general as unreliable and almost worthless, so the idea that these second-rate troops might have made a difference elsewhere is very much open to question. In the Fall of 1862, Bill and Jim ran afoul of guerrilla leader William Quantrill, who took their horses as punishment for robbing Southern sympathizers as well as pro-Unionists. He always divided his pay with me. But Quantrill's activities indicated that he fought for plunder and personal revenge rather . As for Quantrill, he was captured after being badly wounded and died in prison in June 1865. As the foregoing ballad suggests there were those who regarded Quantrill as a hero and the burning of Lawrence as a good thing. The garrison commander did not appreciate their humor but added their names to the roles as required and ordered them out of town. The weapon of choice was the .36 caliber Navy Colt, favored over the heavier Army Colt. A great memorable quote from the Kansas Raiders movie on Quotes.net - William Clarke Quantrill: [to Jesse] Napoleon made the profound observation that an army travels on its stomach. This raid was the culmination of an . After the Civil War, he drifted to Illinois and on to southwest Iowa. He mounted his horse and got partway down the street before falling prey to sharpshooters who lined the rooftops to prevent his escape. The remains were supposedly buried in Dover in 1889, but Scott attempted to sell what he said were Quantrill's bones and so it is unknown if the remains he returned to Dover or buried in Dover were genuine. Published: (1923) Initially, before 1860, Quantrill appeared to oppose slavery. On August 25, in retaliation for the raid, General Ewing authorized General Order No. He decided to become a schoolteacher as a young man and started this profession. Most of the bands now consisted of reckless and ruthless teenagers with lots of violent energy but little judgment. Andersons reputation actually helped in recruitment; according to Jim Cummins, a member of Andersons band: Having looked the situation over I determined to join the worst devil in the bunch, so I decided it was Anderson for me as I wanted to see the blood flow., Union supporters or relatives of soldiers could expect little mercy. Artist David Plank cant remember a time when he wasnt drawn to birds. I have never belonged to the Confederate Army, nor do my men. That was in July 1864, before Anderson accepted the October 11, 1864, order from General Prices staff addressed to Captain Anderson. While he did little about the contents, Anderson still carried it with him at his death 16 days later. Some of the outlaws were relaxing, shedding tension with a sham battle of hurled corncobs and taking naps in a hayloft. [13], On September 7, 1862, after midnight, Quantrill with 140 of his men captured Olathe, Kansas, where he surprised 125 Union soldiers, who were forced to surrender. The area was so thoroughly devastated that it became known thereafter as the "Burnt District". As with any larger-than-life historical figure, Quantrills story proves difficult, perhaps impossible, to determine where fact ends and legend begins. Quantrill's last battle occurred in a pasture and wooded draw and barn lot near Taylorville in Spencer County, Kentucky, on May 10, 1865. Some of the guerrillas were unwilling to live under Union occupation and joined General Jo Shelbys brigade as they crossed into Mexico to offer their services to Emperor Maximillian. Definitions and examples of 136 literary terms and devices. Trending. Clements, however, returned to town to have a drink with a friend. The surviving guerrillas might even have judged their campaign as a success in their own terms: Was bloody revenge dealt out to the Union troops and their supporters? But more than likely, Quantrill planned to link up with General Robert E. Lees army, believing that the men would be considered Southern soldiers and would be pardoned with the coming end of the war in Virginia. Chapter 3 Quotes I said, "I have hopes that the marshals will get him soon. His other two sisters suffered crippling injuries and disfigurement. [citation needed] Soon thereafter, he signed on as a teamster with the U.S. Army expedition heading to Salt Lake City, Utah in the spring of 1858. Lane became known as the Grim Chieftain.. He told her that slavery was right and that he now detested Jim Lane. morning, April 9th of tuberculosis of the bone, lamented yet another article in the The Albany Ledger, on Friday, April 15, 1910. Chapter 7 Quotes He said that the hanging of John Brown had been too good for him and that "the devil has got unlimited sway over this territory, and will hold it until we have a better set of man and society generally. They were somewhat comfortable in the knowledge that Captain Terrells guerrilla-hunting scouts were miles away with no knowledge of their whereabouts. An earlier letter penned by Langford to Scott on September 8, 1888, from Clarinda, Iowa, is now in the possession of The Filson Historical Society and University of Kentucky Libraries, providing an eyewitness sketch of the last battle of William Clarke Quantrill. A further order forcing the conscription of all able-bodied men into Union militias convinced many young men in Missouri to join the guerrillas instead. It was Mayes who taught Quantrill guerrilla warfare tactics, the ambush fighting tactics used by the Native Americans, as well as camouflage and the tactic of the sneak attack.