Stark Mad Abolitionists

by Robert K. Sutton

  Quantrill became a skilled commander, but because he had no prior military experience, he had a steep learning curve that—early on—almost cost him and his men their lives. He learned of Halleck’s Order No. 2 shortly after it was issued, and the first individuals his band encountered several days later were a Union sergeant and a toll collector. His men shot both of them in cold blood. That night, Quantrill and his men stopped to have dinner and sleep in the house of David Tate, a Confederate sympathizer. The bushwhackers were so sure that Union soldiers were miles away that Quantrill posted only two guards near the house, who probably fell asleep. Unbeknownst to them, the 2nd Kansas Cavalry was scouring the area trying to track them down. The Union soldiers knew, or at least suspected, that David Tate was a Confederate sympathizer, so Major James Pomeroy was sent with his squadron to arrest Tate for questioning as to the whereabouts of Quantrill and his men. Major Pomeroy had no idea that Quantrill and his men were inside Tate’s house, so when he walked up and banged on the door, he received a rude answer when Quantrill, who had been awakened with the commotion outside, fired a shot through the door. Pomeroy immediately ordered his men to start firing on the house. But when he heard women and children screaming, he ordered his men to stop and allowed the family to leave. Quantrill was in a bind. The house was surrounded, the federal soldiers were pouring lead into the house, and, although the log walls absorbed most of the shots, there was no easy way out. Then Major Pomeroy again ordered his men to stop firing, and yelled at Quantrill to surrender or he would set the house on fire and roast the bushwhackers alive. His men set the house ablaze.

  Quantrill coolly told his men they were in a tight spot, but that was their best chance for survival was to follow him. So they dashed out the door, firing as they went, and escaped into the woods. Pomeroy’s men were so intent on watching the building burn, they were not prepared for the dash out of the house and only fired off a few shots, killing one bushwhacker. Not long after, Quantrill and his men were again surprised by Union troops. They escaped again, but after the second close call, Quantrill made sure that whenever his men were staying together, they posted enough sentries at strategic entry points so they would not be caught off guard again.

  In July 1862, Union Major James Gower learned that Quantrill and his bushwhackers were in the area, and decided that he was going to be the hero who captured the guerrilla band. One of his officers, Captain Martin Kehoe, picked up Quantrill’s trail, but this time, the guerrilla leader had ample warning and set up an ambush for the federal cavalry. The bushwhackers got off the first shots, killing several of Kehoe’s men. Kehoe pulled his men back to regroup. Quantrill probably thought Kehoe and his men were retreating, so he pushed the attack. What Quantrill did not know, however, was that Kehoe had sent word to Gower, who was bringing up a much larger contingent. Kehoe’s and Gower’s combined forces attacked and caught Quantrill and his men in a trap. Quantrill divided his forces into small squadrons, and miraculously, they escaped. He learned another important lesson in guerrilla warfare—avoid engaging in pitched battles at all costs.262

  Quantrill and his men were organized and fully functioning as guerrillas when the Confederate Congress passed the Partisan Ranger Act in April 1862, which gave them pay, supplies, and ammunition and allowed Quantrill to call himself “Captain.” They continued to operate somewhat independently, but when called upon, they were expected to join up with the regular Confederate Army. Such was the case in the summer of 1862, when the Confederates tried to gain a foothold in Missouri; Quantrill and his men joined in the effort, but when the regular army pulled out in the fall, Quantrill and his guerrillas remained in the area.

  When the Confederate Army pulled out of western Missouri, Quantrill and his bushwhackers returned to their guerrilla tactics. His fame spread, and new recruits eagerly joined. Two of the new recruits were John McCorkle and his brother Jabez. Years later, John McCorkle recorded his experiences with Quantrill.263 Just after midnight, on September 7, 1862, Quantrill and 140 of his men rode into Olathe, Kansas, yelling and firing their guns. They weren’t expecting opposition, but they found 125 Union militiamen standing in a line of defense. The bushwhackers ordered their surrender, and all but one complied; he and about a dozen or so civilians were gunned down. In addition to the killings, the guerrillas robbed the locals of all their horses, money, and jewelry. They forced the men to strip down to their underwear and took their clothing.264

  A little over a month later, on October 17–18, Quantrill and his men hit a community in Kansas again. This time Shawneetown (present-day Shawnee), not far from Kansas City, was the target. As they were riding into town, they encountered a Union Army wagon train loaded with supplies, protected by an infantry escort. Everyone was asleep. When the bushwhackers came swooping in, the soldiers were caught by complete surprise and fifteen were killed. Quantrill and his men continued into town, robbed the citizens of their valuables, killed a number of civilians, and took several hostages, but unlike the previous raids, they then burned nearly the entire town to the ground.

  Later in the fall and winter of 1862, as Quantrill’s fame was escalating with Confederate supporters, and as his infamy was growing among Unionists, he decided that he deserved a higher level of recognition from the Confederate government. He left his bushwhackers behind in Arkansas and traveled to Richmond, Virginia, where he met with James Sedden, the Confederate Secretary of War. John Newman Edwards, one of Quantrill’s earliest and most sympathetic biographers, learned about the meeting from Senator Louis T. Wigfall of Texas, who was present. Quantrill requested a commission as a Confederate colonel, under the Partisan Ranger Act. This commission would legally sanction his leadership of the guerrilla band, with the full backing of the Confederate Government. Sedden refused to give Quantrill his commission, no doubt based on what he had heard of Quantrill’s increasing brutality. Quantrill returned to his men, but reported that he did, indeed, receive a commission as colonel. Not wise to the truth, his men from that point on called their leader “Colonel Quantrill.” Younger later learned that Quantrill did not receive his commission, and reported as much in his autobiography.265

  While Quantrill was away, some of his bushwhackers lay low, others followed his lieutenants on raids of their own, and still others joined up with Confederate commands in Arkansas. When he returned in January as “Colonel” Quantrill, he started to pick up where he left off. His band was also picking up new recruits, either as individual members, or as smaller guerrilla forces who chose to join Quantrill, such as Bill Anderson and his band of bushwhackers, who joined in early 1863. Anderson was born in Kentucky, and went with his family first to Missouri, then to Kansas, where they took advantage of the land available there. Anderson’s parents were southern sympathizers who favored slavery, although they did not own any slaves themselves. Anderson probably orchestrated the disappearance of a wagon train and all of its contents, although he was never charged with the theft.

  “Bloody Bill” Anderson Courtesy of the State Historical Society of Missouri.

  Bill and his brother formed a small band, along with Arthur Baker, a local judge and Confederate sympathizer, stealing horses from Kansas and transporting them to Missouri. Baker was captured by Jayhawkers and was paroled, at which time he turned on his partners. Baker shot and killed Bill’s father in an argument, which so enraged Bill that he his brother and two other associates killed Baker, locking him in his house and setting it on fire.

  Anderson moved to Missouri and started gathering his own following of guerrillas. Eventually, when Anderson joined forces with Quantrill, he and his men had no problem killing Union and Confederate civilians. When Quantrill caught wind of the practice, he was so incensed, he threatened to kill “Bloody Bill” (this was quickly becoming his nickname) Anderson if he didn’t stop killing Confederate civilians. The two men eventually made an uneasy peace, but they were never entirely comfortable working with each other.266

  As Quantrill and particularly “Bloody Bill”
were becoming more brazen and bloodthirsty in their attacks, the Union Army tried different strategies to deal with the guerrillas. First, Major General Halleck declared guerrillas as outlaws. Next, Halleck targeted the families of guerrillas, knowing—or at least suspecting—that they were aiding the bushwhackers. If women, children, and non-fighting men provided, or if they were suspected of providing, any type of aid to the enemy, they would be considered “belligerents.” They could be detained and questioned, and if there was enough suspicion of complicity, Union commanders could incarcerate them, move them from the hostile area, and even burn their houses and farms. On the other hand, if Missourians could prove that they were noncombatants, and were not connected in any way with the guerrillas, they were left alone.

  Halleck’s order allowed some flexibility for his commanders. Brigadier General Thomas Ewing Jr., who was appointed as commander of Union forces in the border area in the spring of 1863, interpreted Halleck’s policy to err on the side of suspecting anyone with any inkling of possible support for the guerrillas to be guilty of spying. Ewing came from a prominent Ohio family. His father, Thomas Ewing Sr., had served in the US Senate and in the cabinets of several presidents. Thomas Jr. attended Brown University and was his father’s secretary while he served as the Secretary of the Interior under Zachary Taylor. The family took in William Tecumseh Sherman, who would later become one of the most important Union generals in the Civil War, as a foster child after Sherman’s father died, leaving his mother with eleven children and no money. Sherman and Thomas Ewing Jr. were close in age and were raised together. Then Sherman married Thomas’s sister and became his brother-in-law. Thomas Jr. moved to Leavenworth, Kansas, during the territorial period, practiced law, and aspired to be one of the first US senators from Kansas. He was unsuccessful in that effort, but he was appointed as the first chief justice of the Kansas Supreme Court. He resigned his post in 1862 and was appointed as colonel of the 11th Kansas Infantry. Although he had no prior military experience, he proved an able commander, and after leading his regiment in several successful battles, he was promoted to brigadier general in charge of the border area.

  Ewing’s order to arrest noncombatants was drastic. There was no question that Quantrill and his gang and other bushwhackers were supported by many. Cole Younger and John McCorkle in their later memoirs wrote of the many houses in which they were fed and offered beds. On one occasion, McCorkle wrote that they were sitting down to a meal at one house, but when the scouts reported that the Union cavalry was in the vicinity, they left dinner sitting on the table and moved on to another house, where their new hosts fed them instead.

  The Union Army started carrying out Ewing’s order in the spring of 1863. Soldiers arrested women and even teenage girls suspected of aiding the bushwhackers. Some were caught red-handed with caches of ammunition and powder in their houses. Others, who had large quantities of rough butternut-colored material, were considered guilty of making the distinctive blouses worn by nearly all guerrillas. If someone was transporting large quantities of food, the assumption was that the supplies were intended for guerrillas. Still others were jailed because they had a great deal of cash in their possession. Many were considered guilty simply because they knew or were related to the bushwhackers. Bill Anderson’s three sisters, who were all teenagers—the youngest, Jenny, was only thirteen—were among those detained. Cole Younger’s cousins, who also were the sisters of Riley Crawford, one of the youngest members of Quantrill’s band, were held. John McCorkle’s sister, Charity Kerr, and his widowed sister-in-law, Nannie McCorkle, were captured as well. Nannie was the widow of John’s brother, Jabez, who died when he accidentally dropped his rifle and the discharge killed him. John McCorkle reported that his sister and sister-in-law were arrested while hauling food from Kansas City.

  The arrested women were put in makeshift jails in Kansas City, Missouri, without any legal protections, and most were held until they could be transported to St. Louis. Some were quickly released if they could prove their innocence. One of the buildings in which they were housed was a three-story structure—commonly referred to as the Thomas Building—on Grand Street. The building was owned by the noted artist George Caleb Bingham, who had added the third story for his studio, which was unoccupied at the time. The women were held on the second floor. The first floor housed a Jewish grocery establishment and the soldiers who guarded the women.

  The soldiers removed some of the support beams on the first floor to provide more space to maneuver. From the time the building was used as a makeshift jail, there were reports that the building was unsafe. Cracks appeared in the walls, and plaster was crumbling, leaving white dust almost everywhere. Fearing that the structural integrity was severely compromised, the soldiers and the proprietor who ran the grocery business moved out of the building. They later reported that they informed Ewing and others that the building was unsafe and that the women should have been moved.

  On August 13, 1863, catastrophe struck. At about dinner time, the entire building collapsed, taking the adjoining building down with it; or maybe the adjoining building collapsed first, taking the Thomas building with it. No one knew for sure. Soldiers and bystanders rushed to the scene and started removing beams and rubble, pulling survivors from the wreckage as quickly as they could. Four women were killed instantly, including Josephine, the fifteen-year-old sister of Bill Anderson, and Charity Kerr, John McCorkle’s sister. Jenny Anderson, Bill’s youngest sister, was severely injured with two broken legs, cuts and bruises, and a damaged back, and was crippled for the remainder of her life. Jenny had been chained to a bed for unruly behavior, and there was no chance to protect herself. In all, seventeen women and girls, one boy, and one soldier were victims of the disaster. Nannie McCorkle, John’s sister-in-law, managed to leap from the building when it collapsed. She survived.

  Even to this day, no one can say for sure why the building collapsed, but recriminations and accusations began immediately. To the guerrillas and rebel sympathizers, the military had purposefully damaged the building, claiming that Ewing had ordered the removal of the support beams, hoping that the building would collapse. Probably the removal of structural members was a contributing factor. Others claimed to have observed hogs rooting around the foundation, which further undercut the structure. Some noted that a sudden gust of wind caused the already unstable structure to tumble. Another likely factor was that the third story added for Bingham’s studio was structurally unsound.

  On August 14, one day after the building’s collapse, Ewing sent a proposal to his superior, Major General Scofield, which was one of the most ill-advised missives in the Civil War. He recommended posting Field Order No. 10, which formalized his earlier directive for his soldiers to arrest suspected supporters of guerrillas. Officers were authorized to arrest and send to the local provost-marshal anyone who aided or encouraged the guerrillas. In particular, “the wives and children of known guerrillas, and also women, who are the heads of families and are willfully engaged in aiding guerrillas, will be notified by such officers to remove out of this district and out of the State of Missouri forthwith.” They would be allowed to take household goods and livestock, and if they did not comply willingly, they would be escorted “to Kansas City for shipment south.” Scofield approved the order, and it was posted on August 18.

  To Quantrill and his bushwhackers, the collapse of the building and Field Order No. 10 were the final straw. John McCorkle would later simply say: “we could stand no more.” For one thing, many of their loved ones were killed or maimed, but for another, women were the victims, and to this Victorian society, and even to the most violent guerrillas, women were still held in chivalric high esteem. They should never have been placed in a situation in which they could be injured or killed. In their earlier raids, there was only one report of a woman being injured, and that was claimed as an accident.267 There was no doubt in their minds that Ewing had orchestrated the collapse of the building, and if that were not enough, now he was es
calating the effort to arrest their loved ones and send them out of the state.

  The disaster on August 13 certainly was a catalyst for Quantrill’s Raid on Lawrence, but he had been planning the raid for some time. Fletcher Taylor, one of Quantrill’s lieutenants, spent a week in Lawrence, disguised as a cattle trader, doing a reconnaissance of the town several days before the Thomas Building disaster. He returned to Quantrill’s camp and reported that Lawrence was poorly garrisoned, and that the troops stationed there were in a camp some distance from town. Plus, Taylor noted that the streets were wide and easy to ride through. Taylor made his report to Quantrill, Bill Anderson, and other guerrillas—over three hundred in all. Cole Younger later reported that after they heard the report, Quantrill said: “you have heard the report. It is a long march.” Quantrill continued, pointing to the potential hazards, particularly if they encountered soldiers. He concluded by asking his men: “What shall it be? Speak out Anderson!”