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Quantrills Raid on Lawrence, KS
August 21, 1863
In September of 1861, William Clarke Quantrill became impatient. The
24-year-old Ohio native had recently joined the pro-Confederate Missouri
State Guard forces under General Sterling Price. But now, Quantrill was
unhappy with Prices reluctance in aggressively prosecuting Union troops
after the State Guard victory over the Federal encampment at the Battle of
Lexington in September, 1861. He decided upon a more aggressive course of
his own-guerilla warfare.
In 1862, the young Quantrill began his infamous raiding career in western
Missouri and then across the border into Kansas by plundering the towns of
Olathe, Spring Hill and Shawnee. His raids gained the attention of other
desperados. By 1863, Quantrill recruited others who joined his company
including Bloody Bill Anderson and the James brothers. In the summer of
1863 they set their sites on Lawrence, KS- the site of their most infamous
destruction.
Early on the morning of August 21, 1863, Quantrill along with his
murderous force of about 300, descended on the still sleeping town of
Lawrence. Incensed by the free-state headquarters town, Quantrill set out
on his revenge against the Jayhawker community. In this carefully
orchestrated early morning raid he and his band, in four terrible hours,
turned the town into a bloody and blazing inferno unparalled in its
brutality.
Quantrill, a former resident of Lawrence, and his Bushwhacker mob of
raiders began their reign of terror at 5 AM. Killing, looting and burning
as they went the band was bent on total destruction of the town, then less
than 3,000 residents. By the time it was over, the raiding force had
killed approximately 180 men and boys and devastated families, homes and
businesses alike. The fires and looting consumed the town and left
Lawrence a smoldering ruins.
These photographs of present-day Lawrence show some of the places along
the path of Quantrills destruction. |
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Hotel Eldridge
One of the main objectives of the raid was the Eldridge Hotel (known as
the Eldridge House at the time of the raid). Most of the raiders proceeded
directly to the building in order to secure the fortress that could
potentially harbor defenders. The Hotel was surrendered early in the raid.
After evacuating the Eldridge House it was set afire and the raiding party
spread throughout the community. In the years following the raid the hotel
pictured here, while on the same spot, has been rebuilt more that once |
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Hotel Eldridge
(Model of wartime structure)
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Hotel Eldridge
(Lobby)
Todays luxurious Eldridge Hotel of
Lawrence, KS welcomes visitors to a gracious setting of history and
hospitality. This newest Eldridge offers its guests luxury suites,
banquet and business services as well as an insightful glimpse of Civil
War history |
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House Building
After the raid, only a few commercial buildings remained standing. The
current-day House Building, shown here, (known as the Miller building at
the time of the raid) survived. Many of Quantrills victims, among them
members of two camps of Army recruits, were killed near the business
district. The dead lay all along the street according to one witness |
Bleeding Kansas
