Quantrill’s Raid was an attack on the town of Lawrence, KS during the American Civil War (1861-1865). The attack happened on Friday August 21st 1863 by the Quantrill Raiders. This group was a Confederate Guerrilla group led by William Quantrill. The attack ended in around 150 unarmed men and boys being killed.
On the morning of August 21st 1863 the Quantrill Raiders targeted Lawrence due to known fact that Lawrence was in support of abolition (the ending of slavery in the US). Lawrence was also known to be the center of the Jayhawkers. They were a free-state militia known for attacking plantations in Missouri who were pro-slavery.
The attack was a well planned attack. Quantrill gathered support of many of the leaders of many groups. On the day of the attack riders from the many groups rode for Lawrence in several independent groups at the same time.
In an effort to warn Lawrence a man named Henry Thompson, a black servant from Hesper, KS, attempted to run to Lawrence on foot. This is a 22 mile journey but he didn’t make it. He made it as far as Eudora and he had to stop due to exhaustion. He was found by a local who helped gather other members of Eudora and they started for Lawrence. They were too late.
Around 5am that day the militant group arrived. The militants split up and a small squad went to Mount Oread (the tallest point in Lawrence and the home to the modern hotel, The Oread) to serve as a lookout. The rest rode into town. The first known death was Samuel Snyder, a pastor) was outside milking his cows.
They started with their focus on the Eldridge House. This was a large brick hotel that was in the heart of Lawrence. Quantrill and his group used this as their headquarters during their attach. From there Quantrill’s crew broke into all but 2 businesses in town. He looted banks and stores.
The attack lasted 4 hours and by 9 am the militants were on their way back to Missouri. The battle was not so much as a battle but a mass execution. In a matter of 4 hours over 150 people were killed, store and banks were raided, and fires were set.
2 weeks prior Lawrence boasted that they were prepared for an attack by up to 500 milita members. Unfortunately the squad of soldiers were temporarily stated back at Fort Leavenworth and due to the swiftness of the attach were not able to make it to Lawrence in time.
It is believed that the targets were planned beforehand. It was Quantrill’s decision to kill young boys alongside along side the adult men. This was characterized as particularly reprehensible but to put this in perspective of the 800,000 Union soldiers 100,000 of them were under the age of 17.
Today this remains one of bloodiest events to ever happen in Kansas.
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