Old West Gunmen

[Gibson]

Pink Higgins tough enough?

[jmort]

It may not pay off every time, but making sure your first shot hits home is a better approach then spray and pray. I'd give him 5/5 on the tough scale, but then that would make the mad trapper a 6/5. Was looking forward to coming home tonight and reading this thread. Thanks for the hard work.

[Fishman]

I certainly am enjoying this thread!

[Gibson]

Higgins' body count rivals Killin' Jim Miller. (Another BADMAN!) Remember when he was charged by Frazier's sister who was ranting and screaming at him after Miller shotgunned her brothers head almost completely off?

"On the morning of the 14th, Bud was playing cards with friends in a saloon, when Miller pushed open the door and fired with both barrels, practically blowing Frazer's (sic) head from his body. When Bud's distraught sister approached Miller with a gun, he said to her: "I'll give you what your brother got -- I'll shoot you right in the face!"' She then put down the gun and fled. . ."

I think, if I haven't posted King Fisher and Ben Thompson's last hoorah, then I'll post it tomorrow. If I have, it'll be "The Shootist", Clay Allison.

[Slow Elk 45/70]

Uoo RaaH Mr Gibson good reading.!!!

[Gibson]

BUCKSHOT ROBERTS

Well, I am obliged for the encouragement.

How about a "hell for leather" tale of one of the really tough hombres? This story takes place on April 4, 1878. Emblazoned onto the tough guy wall of fame would be the name ANDREW L. ROBERTS.

The long weathered Indian fighter, Texas Ranger, Buffalo Hunter, and frontiersman known as Buckshot Roberts- due to taking a load of buckshot in his right shoulder in his past- would assure that his name lived long after his passing.



From truewest.ning.com and Bob Boze Bell:

Here is the grandson of Dr. Blazer pointing out where one of Buckshot's antagonists was shooting at him from:

Image link:

http://api.ning.com/files/qZ2hmXcpRS.../artblazer.jpg

"Of course, Buckshot had been gut shot by Chuck Bowdre in the first exchange of gunfire at Blazer's Mill and Roberts holed up in an office in Blazer's building and grabbed a rifle off the wall (he emptied his Winchester into Bowdre and the crowd surrounding him). Bleeding like a stuck pig from the gut wound Roberts grabbed a mattress from a bed in the room and threw it across the doorway, laid down with the foreign rifle to defend himself. The leader of the Regulators, Dick Brewer, ran down to a saw mill about 100 yards from the doorway where Roberts was holed up. Brewer hid behind a wood pile and popped off a shot at Roberts. His shot was a tad high and thudded into the wall behind Roberts' head. Noting where the puff of smoke came from, Roberts looked down the hill and trained his rifle at the spot where he saw the report. Brewer, meanwhile, waited a few seconds then peered over the cord of wood to see if he got his man. Roberts factored in the distance, took aim and pulled the trigger. The bullet entered Brewer's eye and took out the back of his skull."

Mr. Blazer on the old rifle that Buckshot Roberts had appropriated:

"We all used it for hunting, but nobody in the family could hit a damn thing with that rifle."

[Gibson]

The great historian of the old west, Robert Utley describes Buckshot's past as "murky". Indeed it is. His tombstone signifies he served in the CSA during the Civil War. We'll go with that. Utley refers to him in the following manner, "he was a short man with a stocky build, he was a loner, and he preferred riding a mule". So, we have a man around 5'8", stocky, and with a preference toward being left alone. Sources about his past are indeed contradictory. Some have him in the Union Army and on the opposite side of the Texas Rangers. Most agree he was a preeminent frontiersman, a buffalo hunter and known to have been involved in shooting scrapes on more than one occasion. One account has him being on the run from several Texas Rangers and in a pitched battle killed three of them before taking a shotgun blast to his right shoulder. Based on what is coming, that is certainly believable.

On April 4, 1878, death rode in on a mule. . .

[Gibson]

This story has it's roots in the killing of John Tunstall and the ensuing Lincoln County War. Plenty of gunmen on both sides of that fray. Roberts happened to be somewhat loosely allied with the Dolan-Murphy faction. The other faction was known as the Tunstall-McSween faction. The war came into being over the dry goods trade in the county. Go figure. Tons of big names wee involved in different ways, to include John Chisum and Billy the Kid. The Dolan faction allied with a rough group of men known as the Jesse Evans gang. The Tunstall faction allied with a group known as the regulators.

Buckshot Roberts lead in:

"He arrived in Lincoln County, New Mexico Territory in about 1873 and although his kept his past a secret, he soon developed the reputation of a badman who was quite skilled with a gun, despite his crippled right shoulder. He may have briefly enlisted in the Army at Fort Stanton, only to dessert the Army a short time later for unknown reasons. He eventually started a small ranch on the Rio Ruidoso and also became friendly with Lawrence G. Murphy and J. J. Dolan. Later on, Roberts also became friendly with Jessie Evans and the members of his gang and may have participated in some of their rustling activities. On February 18, 1878, Roberts rode in the posse that ambushed and killed John H. Tunstall and thereafter a warrant was issued for his arrest. When the Lincoln County War erupted over this, Roberts may have been convinced it was time for him to leave the county, since the warrant for his arrest was in the hands of the Regulators, who had killed two other members of the Tunstall-killing posse in March. He may have began taking steps to sell his Ruidoso ranch, but he also seems to have been taking steps to collect the rewards on the heads of the Regulators. In late March, Roberts was involved in a small skirmish near San Patricio with Regulators Billy "the Kid" Bonney and Charlie Bowdre, although no one was hurt."

Buckshot Roberts rode into the Bazer's Mill, (a settlement named for Dr. Joseph Hoy Blazer), on the Mescalero Apache Reservation on an icy Thursday at noon. He dismounted his bay mule near the post office and tied his packhorse nearby. Buckshot unbuckled his cartridge belt and hung his sixgun on his saddle pommel, he then shucked his Winchester Carbine from it's scabbard, threw it in the crook of his arm and moseyed toward the post office, likely his mission that day was not one of gunplay but one of retrieving his mail. He was expecting payment from a ranch he had sold in the area. (He may have decided to quit the area because of the warrant for his arrest.) What he didn't see was a large group of horses an the stable, all belonging to "Regulators". There were upwards of 15 men sworn to capture or kill Roberts. Uh-huh. . . 15-1 would normally be odds to my liking but not in this case. . .

George Coe who was one of the Regulators and about a half honery old cuss outlived most all of the old timers and in 1934 wrote his autobiography, "Frontier Fighter". Sadly it is where most of the story comes from. Thank God we have some clarifications from Blazer's son and his Foreman, who were there also. Coe claims his brother Frank Coe was outside and spotted Roberts heading for the Post Office. He went over to persuade him to give up his Winchester and surrender to the Regulators. Coe claims he spent 30+ minutes talking with him but failed. Blazer's son say it was but a moment.

At this point the main group of Regulators finish their lunch, the coincidental reason that they were even at the Mill, and quickly see Roberts. John Middleton, Charlie Bowdre, George Coe, Henry Brown, and Frank McNab came around to the scene. Now, it is truly on. In what has to be one of the classic tough guy responses, Charlie Bowdre cries out for Buckshot to "throw up yer hands" Buckshot's reply: "NOT MUCH, MARY ANN!" BWHAHAHA! Can't make that up. This 45 year old with a gimp right arm and facing 15-1 odds calls the guy a Mary Ann! Stone Cold Cool. Well, it's on, now.

Buckshot and Bowdre fire almost simultaneously, Bowdre hitting Buckshot in the lower midsection with a rifle ball. Buckshot hipshot and hit Bowdre center mass striking his gun belt and decking him. The bullet split and a fragment totally severed George Coe's trigger finger. The bullet that hit Roberts was a through and through. It left a grievous wound. Buckshot's Wichester Carbine again cut drive, as he retreated to the doorway of the mill, hitting John Middleton in the chest, striking "Doc” Scurlock’s pistol and shooting Billy the Kid through the arm! The old man was blazing away. He fell into the Mill. His faithful Winchester Carbine empty. His sixgun still with his mule. He was far from done though. He procured an old Springfield 45-70 single shot, fitted with a globe sight, and found a box of ammo. The posse did not rush him. As a matter of fact they fell back in a way and staked out positions while fussing as to who hit Buckshot. Ole Buck wasn't quite through though.

Inside the room Buckshot found an old mattress and unrolled it in front of the doorway creating a semi barricade. However the Regulators sat tight and tended their multiple wounded. After some time of sporadic fire, Dick Brewer the leader of the Regulators was getting more and more angry. He ordered a man present to ask Roberts to surrender, the man being somewhat smarter than Brewer, declined. Finally Brewer can stand no more and makes the last error in judgement he ever made on this oblate spheroid. Seeing the crack in the doorway and the matress, he tries to make a rifle shot through and kill Buckshot. But Buck is sitting tight watching and he spies the tell tale smoke from Brewer's rifle. That's all he requires, he raises up as best he can, props his big old 45-70 and BLAM! Drop Brewer like a plate of chitlins. Stone dead. . . Blew his brains out.

Well, guess what? Yep. The act of killing their leader, combined with their wounded totally demoralized the Regulators who pulled back to nearby settlement and bled.

BATTERED, BLOODIED, BUT VERY MUCH UNBOWED was Buckshot Roberts, the clear victor. He survived the night but succumb to his wound the next day.

Billy the Kid was quoted as saying ". . . yes sir, he licked our crowd to a finish."

Now there is another helluva man from our 19th century past.

Blazer's Mill:



Dick Brewer:

[Gibson]

One clarification and an additional image:

The number of Regulators I mention in the first post is 13. I find numbers between 13-15 throughout, but it seems more sources go with 15. Thus my consistent use of 15-1, later, in the sketch.

Here is an 1881 picture of the Blazer's Mill area:

[Gibson]

Let's hear from ya, pards. Buckshot was a man with the bark still on, huh?

[jmort]

Yes he was tough stuff. Based on this I'm giving him 4/5 on the tough guy chart. Really looking forward to next installment.

[Gibson]

Thanks jmortimer! Lots of readers but few reply. . . I really appreciate the response. Feedback/encouragement goes a long way. Obliged, friend.

This one will stir some passions. You guys must forgive my slight biases. I am, at my core, a southerner. I make no apologies.

Enjoy.

[Gibson]

Lawrence, Kansas. August 21, 1863.

"Pay Back"

"I have chosen guerilla warfare to revenge myself for the wrongs that I could not honorably avenge otherwise. I lived in Kansas when the war commenced. Because I would not fight the people of Missouri, my native state, the Yankees sought my life but failed to get me. Revenged themselves by murdering my father, destroying all my property, murdered one of my sisters and have kept the other two in jail for 12 months. But I have fully glutted my vengeance. I have killed many, I am a guerilla. I have never belonged to the Confederate Army, nor do my men."

-William T. Anderson, They called him Bloody Bill



Note the shirt. It was a sort of uniform of the brigands. The move, "The Outlaw Josey Wales", correctly mentions this:





Brutal men in brutal times.

There had existed on bloody Missouri border, a state of open warfare, long before the actual United states Civil War began. It began around 1855-56. Belligerents from Kansas Territory and Missouri duked it out. Fueled by psychotics like John Brown this small war was brutal LONG before there existed a de jure war. They killed each other liberally on BOTH sides. There were atrocities aplenty. Things like the hacking to death with broadswords of 5 Missourians to the sacking of Lawrence in 1856. . .

Here is an indisputable truth. Lawrence Kansas was an epicenter of all things abolitionist in the ongoing conflict. It would later house men like the abominable Senator James Lane and the Governor of Kansas, as well. This city was the avowed enemy of pro-southern rights Missourians. When you settled there you knew EXACTLY what you were letting yourself in for. It was palpable, it was in the air. It was a bastion of abolitionists. And it was EASILY avoided. Settle elsewhere. MANY did just that. If you choose to live there and weren't completely brain dead you knew the choice had consequences. Does that mean you deserve death. Well, no, not to me. But does it mean you are an "innocent" victim of a massacre? Well, only if you were a young man who was a victim of his parents' choice.
It seems absolutely imperative to me to accept that there is a context for these events of August 21, 1863. Not an excuse but a context.

[Gibson]

A general overview of the backdrop as seen through the eyes of a Confederate Soldier who was there and observed through no doubt biased eyes but it gives a context from the viewpoint of the Missouri Partisan Ranger.

"GUERRILLA WARFARE IN MISSOURI.
BY W. J. COURTNEY, LONG BEACH, CAL

(WHO WAS WITH COMPANY B, SHANKS REGIMENT, 5th MISSOURI CAVALRY, SHELBY'S BRIGADE, PRICE'S ARMY)

'I was always strongly opposed to guerrilla warfare, believing it wrong and a poor way to settle anything : yet I want to give you a few facts as to the causes for guerrilla warfare in Missouri, where it was more bitter and merciless than in any other State. So far as Southern men took part in it, it was strictly a war of retaliation.

In September, 1861, Jim Lane, with a body of Kansas jayhawkers, wantonly burned and destroyed the town of Osceola, in St. Clair County, Mo., and a little later in the fall of that year the bloody butcher, McNeil, with a Federal command, had ten prisoners, most of them noncombatants, shot simply because some Union man in that neighborhood had disappeared from his home and could not be found.

In November, 1S61, Col. C. B. Jennison, of the 1st Kansas Cavalry, issued a proclamation to the people of the border counties of Missouri, in which he declared: "All who shall disregard these propositions (to surrender their arms and sign deeds of forfeiture of their property) shall be treated as traitors and slain wherever found. Their property shall be confiscated and their houses burned, and in no case will any one be spared, either in person or property, who refuses to accept these propositions."

And the Federals boasted of their barbarity. On December 27, 1861, the St. Louis Democrat stated that "Lieutenant Mack, sent out to Vienna with twenty Kansas rangers, returned yesterday. He brought no prisoners, that being a useless operation about played out." The Rolla Express, a Union paper of the same date, said: "A scouting party of rangers, which left this place last week for Maries County, has returned. The boys bring no prisoners ; it is not their style."

At that time there was not an organized Southern guerrilla band in the State of Missouri, nor had there been. The first of that kind was organized by Quantrell. In January, 1862, Quantrell had seven men with him and operated in Jackson County, Mo. During that month Captain Gregg joined Quantrell with thirteen men, making his entire force twenty men. After that his command increased rapidly. He had fights and took many prisoners, but he always paroled them. In a fight at Little Santa Fe Quantrell and his band were surprised and surrounded in a house. The house was set on fire, and they fought their way out. One of his men was wounded and captured, taken to Fort Leavenworth, and shot.

On the night of the 20th of March, 1862, Quantrell, with sixty men, camped on Blackwater, four miles from the little town of California. On the morning of the 21st he got a copy of the St. Louis Republic, which contained General Halleck's proclamation outlawing his band and all other bands of partisan rangers and bushwhackers and ordering Federal officers not to take them prisoners, but to kill them wherever found. Quantrell said nothing of the proclamation until he had formed his men next morning.

He then read it to them, told them it meant the black flag, and gave every man his choice who could not fight under the black flag to fall out and return home and all who could to follow him. Twenty of his force turned and rode away with him. Never until then had Quantrell or his men shot a prisoner or a Federal soldier who surrendered. They accepted the black flag when it was forced upon them.

The capture, sacking, and burning of Lawrence, Kans., after that was in retaliation for the sacking and burning of Osceola by Jim Lane and his men more than a year before. The fight and massacre, as it has been called, at Centralia was in retaliation for the killing of one of Anderson's sisters and the crippling for life of another by undermining and throwing down a house in Kansas City in which they, with other Southern women, were confined.

Missouri was isolated and cut off from the Confederacy.. There was a Federal garrison in most every town in the State. A manifestation of sympathy for the South meant banishment, confiscation, and destruction of property, or death. There was no law. The courts were terrorized, and officers were military puppets of the power. Fire and sword reigned supreme, and the guerrillas and bushwhackers simply paid back the insults and wrongs to which they and their families and their friends were subject.

They fought in the only way in which they could fight, and they fought to kill. William Anderson was killed in a fight with Curtis's command at Orrick, Ray County, Mo., in the fall of 1864, and his body ivas dragged through the streets of Richmond, Mo., by the Federals. Quantrell died in Kentucky some time later.

In the fall of 1863 General Ewing issued his infamous, devilish order No. 11, requiring all of the old Southern men (the young men having already gone South) and all of the Southern women and children to vacate their homes and remove from Jackson County under pain of death. Their beautiful homes were then sacked and burned and their best household furniture, pianos, and musical instruments were loaded into wagons and carts and carried away to Kansas.

I am loath to recall those diabolical crimes so long after the war, but it will be many years yet, if ever, before the people of Missouri and the South forget these outrages of rapine, murder, and destruction of their homes and property.

Several of Quantrell's and Anderson's men are still living at their homes in the counties of Clay, Jackson, and Lafayette. No charge of crime or violation of the law has ever been laid at their doors. They have been law-abiding, industrious citizens since the close of hostilities.
.
"Confederate Veteran" Vol. XXIX
Nashville, Tennessee 1921'"

"Captain" Wm. Clarke Quantrill:



1906 Reunion Quantrill's Men:



1920 Reunion Quantrill's Men:



From an internet article. . . (the article itself is debatable but I tend to agree with this paragraph):

"When it comes to the border states and the war, all we ever hear about is Quantrill's raid on Lawrence, Kansas, in August of 1863. No one bothers to tell us what atrocities the various groups of Jayhawkers, Red Legs, and other Yankee types committed in Missouri prior to the Lawrence raid. The "historians" have deemed we don't need to be aware of those things. All we need to know about is what a horrible man Quantrill was, while we are supposed to believe that Kansas Jayhawkers, such as Charles Jennison and James Lane, were Northern paragons of virtue—much the same as that "gentle", sword-wielding saint of the Kansas prairies, John Brown—America's first terrorist."

A long letter pinned by a Union soldier who was present when Anderson was killed, quoted to give an idea of just how heavily armed these guys were.

"BLOODY BILL HAD FOUR REVOLVERS BUCKLED AROUND HIM AND TWO very large ones across his saddle. He was well dressed with rich, clothing. He had on a white wool hat with a long fine black plume in it; wore a fine net undershirt and over it one of fine black cloth most elegantly embroidered on the sleeves and breast; a fine blue cloth vest, and a close-bodied frock coat of excellent drab colored cassimere and pants of same.
He had on his person a fine gold watch and chain and a silver one; $323 in gold and $273 in paper money besides some silver change and small paper currency and $18 in Confederate money."

The writer goes on to say that the troops gave Anderson a "decent" burial.

Uh-huh.

The Truth:

"The federal troops took Anderson’s body to Richmond where a series of ghoulish photographs were taken. He was buried in an unmarked grave in Richmond [actually it seems that they "dragged" the body unceremoniously through the town] and in the evening federal troops were said to have been seen urinating on his grave. The federals found flowers on the grave a few days later and road their horses over and over the grave in an attempt to hide it. Just a few years ago, a simple marker was placed on his grave in what is now called the Pioneer Cemetery in Richmond, Missouri."

Plenty of low class actions to go around, on BOTH sides.

In many cases the actions could be laid at the door of DRUNKEN brutality. John Brown being an exception. He was just a vile lunatic.

[Gibson]

There were three final straws that lead to the Lawrence, Kansas raid:

1) The sacking of and murders at Osceola

2) The Jail Sabotage or Collapse at Kansas City

3) The brutal displacement of Missourians residing on the border by Ewing's Order No. 10.

Bloody August

"Late in August a force of 1,200 troops, entitled the "Kansas Brigade," assembled at Fort Scott under the command of Senator James H. Lane, leader of the extreme antislavery element in Kansas. Its ostensible mission was to defend southern Kansas from Price, who had defeated Lyon at the Battle of Wilson's Creek on August 10. However Lane openly proclaimed his intention of marching into Missouri, declaring that as he did so he would not object to seeing "an army of slaves marching out."[9] Montgomery, who had procured a colonel's commission, was second in com*mand to Lane, Jennison, Stew*art, and other jayhawkers attached themselves informally to the brigade.

Price, having heard that the Missouri counties east of Fort Scott were "infested" with the "marauding and murdering bands" of Lane, decided to "clear them out." On September 2 he defeated a portion of Lane's troops in a skirmish at Drywood Creek near Fort Scott, which Lane evacuated. Content with thus "chastising" the Kansans, he marched on to Lexing*ton, Missouri, where he successfully besieged the Union garrison.[10]

Lane remained in a fortified camp near Fort Scott, fearful for the safety of his army and Kansas, until assured that Price had gone on to the Missouri River. He then sent a detachment under Jennison in "pursuit." Jennison followed Price at a respectable distance as far as Papinsville, Missouri, then returned with 200 cattle and a number of "contrabands."[11]

On September 10, "with a smart little army of about 1,500," Lane started northward along the Missouri line. His avowed objective, however, was not to pursue Price but to "clear out" the valley of the Osage and to "pitch into" the towns of Butler, Harri*sonville, Osceola, and Clinton. On September 12 he reached Trading Post, Kansas, and from there turned eastward into Missouri. As soon as they crossed the border his men began to loot, burn, and perhaps murder and rape.[12]

The climax of Lane's march occurred at Osceola on Septem*ber 23. After exchanging a few shots with some Confederates on the outskirts, his men entered the town and proceeded to ransack it. They robbed the bank, pillaged stores and private houses, and looted the courthouse. Captain Thomas Moonlight bombarded this last building with a cannon, and others set fire to the town, almost totally destroying it. Many of the Kansans got so drunk that when it came time to leave they were unable to march and had to ride in wagons and carriages.[13] They carried off with them a tremendous load of plunder, including as Lane's personal share a piano and a quantity of silk dresses.[14] The "Sack of Osceola" henceforth was a prime cause of bitter hatred of Lane and Kansans by the people of West Missouri."

Concerning the utter destruction of the town of Osceola, let me add this from the website dixieoutfitters.com, it quotes much from historian Paul Peterson:

"While Price's army was closing on Lexington, rather than render assistance to Mulligan, Lane and his ragtag army of twelve hundred Kansas jayhawkers marched instead against the small pro-Southern town of Osceola, Missouri, in St. Clair County. The Missouri editor of the Weston Argus described the sight of fifty shiftless horsemen riding through his town to join "Lane's Brigade"...

They were nearly naked, and minus shoes and hats in many cases. They were not armed, but a number of them had hams of meat on their backs, which they no doubt had stolen from some man's meat house on the road. There are the kind of men that Lane's Brigade is to be composed of; thieves, cutthroats, and midnight robbers. These hirelings passed through town on a full trot, their eyes looking as big as new moons, as they expected at every corner to be stopped or fired on by the Rebels. On a dark night such soldiers would make a splendid charge on a hen-roost, meat house, negro kitchen or stable, but they can't fight honest Americans in daylight."4

This description of the men who belonged to "Lane's Brigade" provided by Peterson , via the writings of a newspaper editor, paint a vivid portrait of New England Puritans, who immigrated to Kansas in pursuit of a socialist Utopia that ultimately left them desolate and hungry. Jim Lane and his "Kansas Brigade" no doubt had a far greater prize in mind than the "hen-roost, meat house and negro kitchen".

"Osceola was one of the more prosperous towns in southwest Missouri. At the beginning of the war, the population was greater than 3000...On September 23,1861, when Lane entered the area , there wasn't a Confederate soldier within miles of the town. With Lane were Col. William Wir's Fourth Kansas Jayhawker Regiment and Col. James Montgomery's Third Kansas Jayhawker Regiment. A few residents fired on the jayhawkers so Lane ordered Capt. Thomas Moonlight to shell the town. After the Union guns had receded the town to rubble, nine male inhabitants were brought to the town square for a drumhead court-martial and shot. Most of the remaining residents were women and children.

Banks were an easy target for the jayhawkers, but the Osceola bank prudently had shipped its funds elsewhere. When Lane found little currency in the bank , he ordered the stores, warehouses and homes ransacked. His men loaded the lot into government wagons and any other vehicles they could confiscate. Among Lane's personal haul were a number of pianos for his home in Lawrence.

He then set the town afire. Of Osceola's eight hundred buildings all but three were turned to ashes. No consideration was given to political leanings of the homeowners. The plunder included 350 horses, 400 head of cattle , 200 kidnapped slaves, 3000 sacks of flour and 50 sacks of coffee. The jayhawkers also took the county records from the courthouse. Lane stole a fine carriage from the home of his colleague, U.S. Sen. Waldo P. Johnson, and sent it to his family in Lawrence along with several silk dresses.

Eyewitnesses noted that the plunder train of 150 wagons was at least a mile long. Property losses were estimated at more than a million dollars. One jayhawker wrote: As the sun went down Sunday night Osceola was a heap of smoldering ruins. Three thousand people were left homeless when Osceola was burned, and perhaps the fairest city in Missouri had been utterly wiped from the earth"5

Also worth noting is the fact that Peterson reveals:

"The Osceola raid was four times more destructive than the 1863 Lawrence Raid".6

I would add that the vast majority of those liberated slaves were liberated into the fields and kitchens of Jayhawkers.

On August 13 a makeshift prison housing the arrested womenfolk of some of the prominent leaders under Quantrill collapsed. It killed five of the young women outright. This event was the true straw that broke the camel's back. It turned the men into berserkers. Any semblance of humanity toward their perceived enemies died with those women. Here is what Peterson says about it:

"In the mid summer of July 1863, Federal Occupational troops began to arrest and detain many area women (mainly those related to Missouri Partisan Rangers) who were said to be spying and gathering food & information for the Partisan Rangers.

Among the women detained were close relatives of prominent Partisan Rangers. These included Mary and Josephine Anderson who were sisters of Bill Anderson.

These women were to be detained until arrangements could be made to transport them to St. Louis, where they would be tried.

All the prisoners were incarcerated into a 3 story building named The Longhorn Store and Tavern located on the site of 1409 Grand Avenue, Kansas City, Missouri.

The Longhorn Store and Tavern was a fairly new structure, and was built in 1856. Awaiting transport, The Longhorn Store and Tavern had been converted into a make shift jail house for women.

On August 13, 1863 the 7 year old building suddenly collapsed.

Four women were killed including 14 year old Josephine Anderson, sister of William T. Anderson. Bill's other sister, Mary Anderson was badly injured (both legs broken).

Also arrested and incarcerated during the collapse were Charity Kerr, sister of John McCorkle (killed), Mrs. Nannie McCorkle, sister-in-law of John McCorkle (uninjured), Susan Vandever, cousin of Cole Younger (killed), Armenia Whitsett Selvey, cousin of Cole Younger (killed).

Here is where the criminal event takes place...

The inner structures and supports of the building were actually weakened by Federal troops so as to make it collapse. Many of the guards had been drinking and celebrating after the collapse, and were overheard bragging and boasting as to the sabotage!!!! "

Peterson continues:

"The unusual construction of the building was that it was actually two separate buildings that shared a common wall as well as floor joists that ran the width of the buildings, almost fifty feet, and rested on the outside walls of both buildings...The soldiers garrisoned in the adjoining guardhouse had examined the building and realized that it could easily be destroyed. A few days prior to August 13, they began to weaken the structure of the Cockrell Building, which they occupied. The soldiers premeditated their designs, known that if they weakened the structural integrity of their own building, it would cause the instability in the adjoining building being used as the female prison.

They began by removing the center posts on the main floor of the guard-house. This left no support for the roof and the floor joists of their own building, thus creating a lever action and causing the adjoining female prison to collapse on top of their own building.

The soldiers gained access to the basement of the Thomas Building and removed the brick pillars that held up the floor joists of the first floor....Not wanting to injure one of their own men, the assassins next door waited until the lone guard left the prison to fetch the water {that they had sent him to get} when they made the final stroke against the supporting column. With the supporting posts and columns in the Cockrell Building finally cut down and removed, the building began to sink. The structure began to fall as the guard was returning. Once the pressure from above started to drive the top stories into the cellar, the supports in the outside walls and, following a lever action, collapsed on top of the guardhouse. "

Finally:

"All but five of the eleven women imprisoned here escaped death. Four were killed immediately...{ten-year-old} Martha Anderson, restricted by the [12 lb.] ball-and-chain, tried desperately to make it to a window; she lived but here legs were horribly crushed"

legendsofamerica.com says this of the incident:

"Among the killed and injured in the collapse were women who were close relatives of prominent Confederate guerrillas. Those killed in the collapse, included Josephine Anderson, sister of "Bloody Bill Anderson", Susan Crawford Vandever and Armenia Crawford Selvey, Cole Younger's cousins, Charity McCorkle Kerr, wife to Quantrillian member Nathan Kerr, and a woman named Mrs. Wilson. Many others were injured and scarred. Caroline Younger, sister to Cole and James Younger, would die two years later as a result of her injuries. Another Anderson sister was crippled for life, when both of her legs were broken in the incident."

Quantrill rider, Mr. John McCorkle, stated:

"This foul murder was the direct cause of the famous raid on Lawrence, Kansas. We could stand no more. Imagine, if you can, my feelings. A loved sister foully murdered and the widow of a dead brother seriously hurt by a set of men whom the name assassins, murderers and cut-throats would be a compliment...The homes of our friends burned, our aged sires, who dared sympathize with us had either hung or shot in the presence of their families and all their furniture and provisions loaded in wagons and with our live stock taken to the state of Kansas. The beautiful country of Jackson county, Cass County and Johnson County were worse than desert, and on every hillside stood lone blackened chimneys, sad sentinels and monuments to the memory of our once happy homes. And these outrages had been done by Kansas troops, calling themselves soldiers, but a disgrace to the name soldier. And now our innocent and beautiful girls had been murdered in a most foul, brutal, savage and damnable manner. We were determined to have revenge, and so, Colonel Quantrill, and Captain Anderson planned a raid on Lawrence, Kansas, the home of the leaders, Jim Lane and Jennison."

Five days later, Ewing's Order No. 10 went into effect. It gave carte blanche to displace anyone deemed not loyal and any family member of a "Partisan" could easily fit under a clause that stated that wives and children suspected of lending aid and comfort to a Partisan would be cast out of their homes and the entire state. Moussouri border civilians were burned out and run off.

The hounds of hell were unleashed on the early morning of August 21. These hounds had names like Todd, Taylor, Clements, Pole, Younger, Shepard, McCorkle, James, Quantrill, and one named Anderson. . . God help Lawrence, Kansas.

Quantrill's Raiders Great Grandson of Daniel Boone, seated near center, George T. Scholl:



Scholl's revolvers:

[Gibson]

Let's Go To Lawrence! Was the cry.

On August 10, Quantrill first breached the idea of attacking the citadel of abolitionists. The home of the murderous butcher Jim Lane. The headquarters of the band that were at least as murderous as Quantrill's men, the Red Legs. These Missourians had no worse enemies. Quantrill's camp meeting with his lieutenants graggen on for 24 hours as the words sank in. Most were vehemently opposed. Said it was a disaster in the making. Home Guard and Federal troops were expected. Quantrill dismissed concerns with argumentation. He believed that the odds would be around 2:1 in the battle he expected. No real hill for the Raiders.

So, after a full battle plan and contingencies were hammered out, the leaders went back to units and told the men to make ready but not tell them the actual mission. In a raid the men had captured a massive gun powder magazine and had caches it at a friends place. They spent days cleaning guns, oiling up the weapons' moving parts and loading cylinders as well as "thousands of cartridges".

Hell was slowly bearing down on a town populated with 3,000 citizens. On August 18, hell moved toward Lee's Summit, Missouri.

The death of several of the womenfolk on the 13th drove the men to borderline insanity. Anderson was completely given over to his darker angels. The others followed suit. They went to a very dark place. Interestingly to me, is the fact that Quantrill himself seems to have been measured and deliberate. Frankly, it appears he held onto his senses better than the others. Nevertheless, the men crossed the rubicon with word of the death and mangling of several of there women and a couple of the children. God help Lawrence, Kansas. On that day, He would not.

[Interesting aside: on the afternoon of the 18th, Raiders lieutenant George Todd stopped at the house of an informer. Called him out and after questioning the guy drew his .44 revolver with the intent of shooting the man but his pleadings were availed and Todd simply leaned forward in his saddle and b*tch slapped him with his revolver barrel. Then Todd dismounted and entered the home, where he found an organ. George Todd, killer of scores of Yankees, walked over, ceremoniously mounted the seat and proceeded to play beautifully on the organ for a long period. Then got up and left.]

The gathering storm reached fruition on the morning of the 20th. The last group joined Quantrill and everyone was now fully aware of the mission and fully inflamed by the events of the last week. Early on the 20th they crossed the border.

Here is what occurred according to McCorkle (he was there), Peterson (Quantrill biographer), and the Lawrence Journal-World newspaper. Quoted from the dixieoutfitters.com website:

"According to McCorkle:

"Riding all night, the town was reached at daylight....down the mainstreet , shooting at every blue coat that came in sight. Just before entering the town Colonel Quantrill turned to his men and said; Boys, this is the home of Jim Lane and Jennison; remember that in hunting us they gave no quarter. Shoot every soldier you see but in no way harm a woman or a child. He dashed ahead of his command down Main {Massachusetts} Street , firing his pistol twice, dismounted from his horse and went into the hotel {City Hotel} , where he was met by the landlord, whom he recognized as an old friend and immediately gave orders for the landlord not to be molested and stayed in the hotel and guarded him. During all this time , his command were busy hunting men with blue clothes and setting fire to the town. Jim Lane and Jennison were the ones wanted and some of the boys dashed at once to Jim Lane's house, but, unfortunately for the world, did not find him. They found his saber, which was very handsome, the scabbard being heavily gold-plated. In the parlor of Lanes House there were three pianos and the boys recognized two two of them as having belonged to Southern people in Jackson County, and a great many other things belonging to Southern people were found in his house"23

Historian Paul Peterson, continues in the description of the events that transpired in Lawrence on August 21'st, 1863:

"The hunted men were soldiers, militiamen , jayhawkers , and Redlegs as well as individuals who had aided jayhawkers, notably individuals who had trafficked in the property stolen from Missourians. Also included were newspaper men who for years had expounded virulent, caustic and inflammatory articles. No small example of this was John Speer Sr. He had once written of the guerrillas: Of all the mean, miserable creatures that infest the earth, these canine wretches in human form are the most despicable.

Quantrill's men carried maps that noted the houses marked for destruction. Once a house had been put to the torch, guerrillas surrounded it to ensure the flames were not extinguished and that the house was completely destroyed...

Any house with porch steps made from gravestones stolen from Missouri cemeteries as well as any house where any property was recognized as stolen from Missouri raised the guerrillas' wrath and indignation. They felt compelled to use the torch freely in such instances..

Three hundred buildings comprised the town; the guerrillas singled out around forty for destruction, mostly in the commercial district that housed or made their business by dealing in plundered goods. Because other buildings caught fire and suffered collateral damage due to their proximity to the condemned buildings, more than eighty buildings were eventually destroyed in the flames...

Contrary to what others have written, Quantrill ordered the bloodshed at Lawrence to be minimal. The refugee Savage noted: It would have been much worse for Lawrence if Quantrill had not been along. John Newman Edwards added : Quantrill, during the entire occupation, did not fire his pistol. He saw everything, directed everything, was the one iron man, watchful and vigilant through everything; but he did not kill. He saved many.

Years after the war, an article from the Cincinnati Enquirer, reprinted in the April 22, 1898, Topeka Mail and Breezem, asserted: As a matter of fact investigation has shown that Quantrill's methods of warfare were not looked upon with favor by some. He was too humane, and generally shrank from the needless taking of human life. He led the 300 guerrillas against Lawrence, Kansas , and helped sack the town of Olathe, but those living today, who were under his command on those memorable occasions have testified that Quantrill's horror of needless blood-spilling held his men very much in check and minimized the slaughter."24

Even the Lawrence {Kansas} Journal-World newspaper, in its Sunday September 19, 2004 edition , which re-published an account first printed in 1929 admitted that women and children were not harmed, stating that:

"The invaders divided into parties of six or eight and seemed to infest the whole town. Men, wherever found, were shot down and their homes set afire. Women and children were not harmed, but women's pleas were disregarded"'

The raid began somewhere after 5 am and by 9 am it was over. Jim Lane slouched away as best he could and escaped, leaving his friends and town to die.

Despite the somewhat sanitized account, something around 150 men and young men were killed. Few, very few, were spared. Anderson and Clements likely scalped a some. Human life was cheap that warm August morning. It was what it was.

[Gibson]

Did anyone notice the gentleman at the top right of the first "reunion" image above?

The image is of the 1906 reunion. . .

"This 1906 reunion photo was taken in Independence. Among the attendees was John Noland, first from right on the third row. Born a slave in 1844, he served as Quantrill’s hostler during the war and was used by the guerrilla commander as a scout and spy. Noland died in 1908."

A bit more on the image:

"Hiram J. George, second from right on the third row, was born in 1834. He fought as both a guerrilla and a regular Confederate soldier, serving at the battles of Independence and Lone Jack, in the raid on Lawrence, and at Baxter Springs. He died in 1911.

William W. “Buck” Fields, sixth from left on the first row, was born in 1844. He served with with the Missouri State Guard and with Quantrill. Fields participated in the siege of Lexington, the battles of Independence, Lone Jack, Cane Hill, Prairie Grove, and Westport, and in the raid on Lawrence. He died in 1937.

William H. Gregg, fifth from right on the first row, was born in 1838. He served as a lieutenant in Quantrill’s command, and fought at Independence, Prairie Grove, and Springfield. He also participated in the raid on Lawrence and in the destruction of General James Blunt’s command at Baxter Springs. Later in the war, Gregg left Quantrill and joined the regular Confederate army. He died in 1916.

John Hicks George, fourth from right on the first row, was born in 1838. He fought with Quantrill at Independence, Lone Jack, Prairie Grove, Lawrence and Baxter Springs. Later in the war he joined the regular Confederate forces and was captured by the Federals in 1864. He died in 1926.

Image Courtesy State Historical Society of Missouri"

[Gibson]

Did anyone notice the gentleman at the top right of the first "reunion" image above?

The image is of the 1906 reunion. . .

"This 1906 reunion photo was taken in Independence. Among the attendees was John Noland, first from right on the third row. Born a slave in 1844, he served as Quantrill’s hostler during the war and was used by the guerrilla commander as a scout and spy. Noland died in 1908."

A bit more on the image:

"Hiram J. George, second from right on the third row, was born in 1834. He fought as both a guerrilla and a regular Confederate soldier, serving at the battles of Independence and Lone Jack, in the raid on Lawrence, and at Baxter Springs. He died in 1911.

William W. “Buck” Fields, sixth from left on the first row, was born in 1844. He served with with the Missouri State Guard and with Quantrill. Fields participated in the siege of Lexington, the battles of Independence, Lone Jack, Cane Hill, Prairie Grove, and Westport, and in the raid on Lawrence. He died in 1937.

William H. Gregg, fifth from right on the first row, was born in 1838. He served as a lieutenant in Quantrill’s command, and fought at Independence, Prairie Grove, and Springfield. He also participated in the raid on Lawrence and in the destruction of General James Blunt’s command at Baxter Springs. Later in the war, Gregg left Quantrill and joined the regular Confederate army. He died in 1916.

John Hicks George, fourth from right on the first row, was born in 1838. He fought with Quantrill at Independence, Lone Jack, Prairie Grove, Lawrence and Baxter Springs. Later in the war he joined the regular Confederate forces and was captured by the Federals in 1864. He died in 1926.

Image Courtesy State Historical Society of Missouri"

[felix]

Quantrill died as a freshly converted Catholic by Loretto nuns during his recovery in either a Louisville or Lexington KY convent. I was told of this by a Loretto nun while teaching history to my 8th grade class at Immaculate Conception school, New Madrid MO. ... felix

[Gibson]

Thanks very much for adding to the thread, felix!

Many years back I sat in the Filson Club and read contemporary accounts of his shooting and death. I do not recall details. This seems vaguely accurate:

"Captain Quantrill was trapped in barn on the James H. Wakefield farm, about one mile from Smiley, Kentucky by Edward Terrell and his cavalry detachment of hired assassins on May 10, 1865.

While attempting to escape, he was struck by two Spencer balls, one in the hand, the other paralyzing him from the waist down.

Captain Quantrill was then transferred to a Federal military hospital in Louisville, then to a Catholic Hospital in Louisville. After almost a month of fighting for his life, Captain Quantrill died at the Catholic Hospital in Louisville at 4pm, June 6, 1865.

He was buried in the old Portland Catholic Cemetery at Louisville. In 1887, his mother had his bones brought back to Ohio. The man she paid to remove the body stole some of the skeleton, and years later, parts of it showed up in the hands of a Kansas collector.

Eventually, these stolen parts were moved to the Old Confederate Veteran's Home & Cemetery at Higginsville, MO.

On October 24, 1992, William C. Quantrill was re-interred in the Old Confederate Veteran's Home Cemetery with full Confederate honors due him by the Missouri Division of the Sons Of Confederate Veteran's."

I have read conflicting accounts of his conversion. Father Michael Power is who I see cited as nursing him and to whom he gave his final confession.