William Clarke Quantrill - ProfilesArchive

About Me

I was born July 31, 1837 in Canal Dover, Ohio, my upbring was like any other boy. My father was a teacher and served as principal of the school I attended. My father passed when I was a young boy. I am, the oldest of 8 children, I was born at Canal Dover (now just Dover), Ohio, on July 31, 1837. My father was Thomas Quantrill, formerly of Hagerstown, Maryland. My mother, Caroline Cornelia Clark, was a native of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. They were married on October 11, 1836, and moved to Canal Dover the following December. My father died December 7, 1854,the doctor said it was tuberculosis that killed Father and all of us, including Maw, were scared death would come to see us. My father was a teacher and served as head of the school I attended. My father and mother were educated people and expected no less from me. My father was stern. Being the oldest I was expected to set an example for my siblings. Father was not short on displain. Maw would often get upset in the manner Father punished us. I knew the same kind of punishment was used in the houses of my friends. I think my upbring was like any other boy. Maw raised us the best she could. I took jobs to help her buy food for the table. I was a good shot with Father's guns and brought home birds and deer as often as I could. Maw was just as firm as Father about my education. Maw was from Pennsylvania, her beliefs were our beliefs, so I can say I was raised in a Unionist family and initially espoused Free-Soil beliefs. After I finished school in 1855, I worked in Ohio as a school teacher. The pay was bad and the hours were long. That did not give me much time to help Maw with the young ones. I continued to hunt and got so I could handle Father's guns very well. There were many times when what I brough was all we had to eat, Maw, always made bread and Once in a while I found berries while hunting and brought those home to Maw. The younger ones would eat the berries until they all had the diarrhoea. Maw would line them up for a spoon of emetic of ipecac and they had to sip a cup of hot tea. They complained as bad as when we had to line up for our castor oil. In 1857 I heard about a few of the neighbors getting ready to go to Kansas for farm land. I told Maw this was what we needed. I could go and get land and build a house for her and the children. Being the oldest it was up to me to be the man of the house and take care of my family. Finally, Maw gave in and let me go with the men headed for Kansas. I promised her I would hurry and soon send money for her to come and bring the family. The trip was hard and when we got to Kansas there was all kinds of trouble. We headed south and found good land. I wrote Maw that I would send for her soon. I never did get a letter back from her. I got the land and thought Maw would be happy here in Kansas. I soon found out that the older men had put my land in their names. When they tried to throw me off my land I had a real fight. After they dumped me near a river I tried to get enough strength to go back. Some folks came along and helped me. I took a position as a teacher, knowing there was little use in going back to "my land". After a year working as a school teacher, I traveled to Utah with the Federal Army as a teamster in 1858, but left the army there to try my hand at professional gambling. In 1859 I took a position in Staton, Kansas and again taught school. I continued to write to Maw. She never did write back to me. I told her I was going to Lawrence, Kansas at the end of the school term and try to find work that paid more than my teaching position. I lived with the Indians for a short time and then headed toward Lawrence. Lawrence was a town full of immigrants the the New England Emigrant Aid Society paid for their trip to Kansas. They were there to vote to against slavery. Those people were not fit to live with. No schooling, running around talking to each other, half the time I could not understand what they were saying. I stayed in a hotel for a short time. Money was hard to get. I met a man who ran the rope ferry across the Kansas River. I moved from the hotel and stayed with Frank and his family. I did odd jobs. I had no money, no land and no letters from home. It was a hard time for me. In June of 1860 I saved enough money to send Maw, fifty dollars. I was not proud of the way I was living and knew I had let Maw down. I got kind of reckless, seems like I was always in some kind of trouble. I decided to leave Kansas and go to Missouri. That was not going to be easy. The Missourians didn't want strangers around. Their farms had been looted and some burned by men from Kansas. Their cattle and horses taken, their pigs shot and butchered on the spot. Moving to Missouri from Kansas was a dangerous idea. I had to figure out some way to earn the trust of those Missouri citizens. I wrote Maw, about my feelings. I told her she had undoubtly heard of the wrongs committed in this territory by the southern people, but when one knows the facts they can easily see that it has been the opposite party that have been the main movers in the trouble and were by far the most lawless set of people in the country. They all sympathize for old J. Brown who should have been hung years ago indeed hanging was too good for him. May I never see a more contemptible people than those who sympathize with him. I told her I could not believe a murderer and a robber, made a martyr of. Just think of it. I still did not get a letter from home. My views now were different than what I thought Maw's would be, maybe that is why she didn't write. I joined a group of abolitionist who were planning a raid into Missouri. They heard that a farmer named Morgan Walker had a fine farm near a place called Blue Springs. We were suppose to free his slaves and take anything else we could. We crossed into Missouri and laid low, close to the Walker farm. I made an excuse to the others of needing some privacy. I searched for someone around the farm. I found a man about my age working in the field. I took the chance and introduced myself. The man's name was Andy Walker. His father owned the farm. Andy took me to Mr. Walker and I again explained what the plan was for that evening. Mr. Walker doubted my story. But he made a plan for that night. He told me if I was in the shooting I would be cut down like the rest of those robbers. He said for me to stay back but he wanted to be able to watch what I did. I agreed. That night the action was just what I had related to Mr. Walker and his son. I found a protected place and watched. Morrison was killed outright. Ball and Lipsey took to the woods. I joined the Walkers in the search for those boys. Walker killed Lipsey. I kept my gun in place. We went back to the Walker farm. Mr Walker sent for the county marshal and his men came out to the farm. I was told I had to go into Independence to the jail and talk to the marshal. The marshal would decide what to do with me. Mr Walker told them I had save the farm and probably the entire family. I had to go to Independence. Mr. Walker sent Andy with me and the marshal's men. When we got to Independence there were people standing around the jail. I was somewhat worried, Andy said not to worry, it will be taken care of. I had to go in the marshal's office, at the jail, and introduce myself. The marshal asked what I planned to do now that I was in Missouri. Andy spoke up and said that I would be staying with him at the hotel. His father had told him to buy me new clothes and give me a horse. The marshal told me to becareful, most of the citizens still did not trust me. Andy said he would be with me at all times. We left the jail, I hoped that would be the last time I would see the jail. Andy and the marshal gave me a look around before Andy and I left. Six cells in the back, iron bars on the windows, iron cell doors with solid steel doors closed at night. One cell had a ring and chain in the floor. I could see if a man got in there was no way to get out.

My Interests

"Before they built that church they built that schoolhouse. They rounded every pup into that schoolhouse because they fancied that everyone should think and talk the same freethinking way they do, with no regard to station, custom, propriety. And that is why they will win. Because they believe everyone should live and think just like them. And we shall lose because we don't care one way or another how they live. We just worry about ourselves."--Mr. Evans

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During the Civil War, the government denied citizens of Missouri their constitutional rights such as access to counsel and due process of law, and could detain him/her indefinitely in violation of U.S. law. Any citizen accused of conspiring with the enemy, in anyway, such as giving water, food, or shelter, be it true or not, that person and often their family was arrested. The penalty might very; jailed without council of law, hung at the nearest tree, or shot down in his/her yard as an enemy. The government shielded that decision and the reasons behind it from meaningful review by council of law. This became such a common happening in Missouri, there was not a man among us that could not recite, in detail, the capturing, imprisonment or killing of a family member or friend; man, woman or child. W.C. Quantrill These cases will define the scope of presidential powers and the Bill of Rights for years to come. The situation in Missouri is a topic at Civil War Round Tables and by Historians to this day.

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The Missouri Partisan Rangers were the Irregular Cavalry units of such commanders as William Clarke Quantrill. These men rode hard and defended the innocent citizens of Missouri from the slaughter and carnage that had been committed by Federal occupational forces sent by Abraham Lincoln. Although many Northern histories consider the Partisan Ranger to be bushwhackers, they were only waging the type war that had already been committed against them and their families. The Federal occupational troops sent by Lincoln came from Kansas, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin and they raped, pillaged, burned and destroyed much of Western, West Central and South West Missouri. The Partisan Rangers were at times the only defense the people of Missouri had from these savage invaders. They were given "no quarter" when they were captured. And in return, none was given to their enemy.

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Quantrill and his band assisted the Confederate Army by distracting the Union troops from the Confederate movements. They did this by constantly raiding Unionists homes and businesses and ambushing the Union troops. The movement of Quantrill and his boys/men kept the Union army from using Missouri as a trail to Texas. In 1862, Quantrill was commissioned as a captain as a Missouri Partisan Ranger by Colonel Thompson and was declared an outlaw by the Union Army. This occurred after Quantrill and his men assisted the Confederate Army in their capture of Independence. The Union then declaring him an outlaw and an order was passed stating that all guerillaâ€™s and partisans were to be treated as criminals and shot on sight. Quantrill had been in the habit of releasing his Union prisoners. This courtesy is seldom mentioned in the books about Quantrill. The union army led by such men as Ewing, Lane and Jennison started many activities that Quantrill was blamed for doing. After the order was issued, he felt that if he and his men were not going to be granted the same courtesy as Confederate prisoners of war, that he would apply the shot on sight order to Unionist as well. By this time, Quantrillâ€™s army band contained well over 300 men. They often rode as separate bands, but would come together for the larger raids when Quantrill summoned them. It was clearly understood among the guerillaâ€™s and partisans that Quantrill was in charge.In 1863, William met Sarah "Katie" King, daughter of Robert King. Her father disapproved of the courtship so they met in secret. When her father found out, they eloped and were secretly married.

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I must testify to the uniform, kind, and gentlemanly treatment we received at the hands of the Confederate officers, among whom were Brig. Gen. J. B. Clark, Brig. Gen. Joe Shelby, Colonels Greene, Quantrill, Jackman, Kitchen, Jeffers, Burbridge, Coleman, and Nichols, all Missourians, and most of them subordinate to Major-General Marmaduke.