William Quantrill was born in 1837 in Canal Dover, Ohio where he was a school teacher. He went to Utah in 1858 and tried his luck as a gambler. He lived in Lawrence Kansas as a school teacher in 1859 and 1860. Warrants for his arrest were issued on charges of murder, theft, and horse thievery by the time he left for Missouri in 1860.
When the civil war began in 1861 he was leading a querrilla band of confederate's around Kansas and Missouri. Quantrill developed a style of guerrilla warfare raiding farms and communities sympathetic to the union. In 1862 he was commissioned a captain in the Confederate Army and declared an outlaw by the Union Army.
The most famous raid of Quantrill's band was August 21, 1863, when he pillaged and burned Lawrence Kansas killing over 150 people. In October at Baxter Springs Kansas he killed 100 union solders. Two years later(1865) he was fatally wounded in Kentucky, when his band was surprised by Union soldiers.
Quantrill's raiders included Frank and Jessie James, Cole and Jim Younger who later used some of the guirrilla tactics for robberies.
Back to the Moments in History selection page.
Back to Notable and Notorious Greggs.
