Search results
Learn about William Quantrill, a Confederate guerrilla leader during the American Civil War. Find out about his early life, his involvement in the Lawrence Massacre, and his death in 1865.
- Early Life
- Schoolteacher
- Life in The West
- Civil War
- Death in Kentucky
- Three Gravesites
- GeneratedCaptionsTabForHeroSec
William Clarke Quantrill was born in Canal Dover (now Dover), Ohio, on October 11, 1837. He was the oldest of Thomas Henry and Caroline Cornelia (Clarke) Quantrill’s twelve children (eight of whom survived infancy). Thomas Quantrill was a coppersmith when he and Caroline settled in Canal Dover the year before William’s birth. He later became a scho...
William attended his father’s school and graduated in 1853. After the elder Quantrill died in December 1854, William took a position as a teacher at Union School to help support his family. Quantrill’s employment as a teacher lasted only about a year before he headed west seeking greater opportunities. For roughly the next six years, he led a check...
After holding various jobs in Mendota, Illinois, and Fort Wayne, Indiana, Quantrill returned to Canal Dover in 1856, with little to show for his efforts. In February 1857, he struck out for Kansas with Henry Torrey and Harmon Beeson, two local men seeking a better life for their families in the West. The group settled in Johnson County, Kansas, nea...
Confederate Soldiers
When the Civil War erupted, Quantrill enlisted and served as a private in Company A of the 1st Cherokee Regiment in the Confederate Army. His unit joined up with General Sterling Price‘s forces in Missouri in time to take part in the Confederate victories at the Battle of Wilson’s Creek(August 10, 1861) and the First Battle of Lexington (September 12-20, 1861).
Quantrill’s Raiders
By December 1861, Quantrill had become either disillusioned with Price’s leadership or disenchanted with army life, prompting him to desert. He began assembling Quantrill’s Raiders, a band of renegades that used guerrilla tactics to ambush Yankee patrols and terrorize Northern sympathizers. By 1862, Quantrill’s band of followers included infamous figures such as William T. “Bloody Bill” Anderson and the James and Younger brothers who led a notorious gang of outlaws after the war.
Marriage
During 1862, the size of Quantrill’s gang grew to over a hundred men. It also included Sarah Katherine King, also known as Kate. Quantrill met Kate on her parent’s Missouri farm in late 1861. The Rebel leader fell in love with the thirteen-year-old girl and the feeling was mutual. When Kate’s disapproving father forbade her to see Quantrill, she ran off to the marauder’s camp. The couple probably married and Kate assumed Quantrill’s middle name (Clarke) as her last name to hide her identity a...
On May 10, 1865, a band of federal irregulars surrounded Quantrill and his men in a barn owned by James H. Wakefield in Spencer County, Kentucky. In the ensuing gun battle, one of the Yankees shot Quantrill in the back as he tried to flee on horseback. The Union soldiers took the paralyzed desperado to a hospital in Louisville where he died a few w...
Quantrill’s remains were initially buried at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Louisville. In 1887, Quantrill’s mother visited the gravesite accompanied by Quantrill’s boyhood friend, William W. Scott. The couple had Quantrill’s body disinterred so that Mrs. Quantrill could make a positive identification. After doing so, they prepared the remains for shipment...
Learn about William Quantrill, a Confederate irregular who led a band of raiders in the Trans-Mississippi Theater of the Civil War. Find out his early life, crimes, marriage, battles, and death.
- Harry Searles
Learn about William Quantrill, the leader of a pro-slavery guerrilla force that terrorized Union supporters in Missouri and Kansas during the Civil War. Find out how he died in a military prison after being shot by Union soldiers in 1865.
William Clarke Quantrill was a prominent Confederate guerrilla leader during the American Civil War who is most famous for having led a raid on the Unionist town of Lawrence, Kansas, in August 1863.
Learn about the life and crimes of William Quantrill, the most ruthless bushwhacker in the Civil War. He led raids on Union towns, killed civilians and soldiers, and escaped capture until his death in 1865.
Jul 27, 2024 · Learn about William C. Quantrill, a Confederate guerrilla leader who raided and killed in Kansas and Missouri during the American Civil War. Find out his background, role, and death in this Britannica article.
People also ask
Who was William Clarke Quantrill?
When did William Quantrill die?
What role did William Quantrill play in the Civil War?
Who was Thomas Quantrill?
Mar 30, 2018 · Learn about the life and exploits of William Clarke Quantrill, a Civil War guerrilla leader who raided Union targets in Kansas, Missouri, and Texas. Find out how he was arrested, escaped, and died in Kentucky.
Related searches
