(Part Two)the insurgent conflict fought between Confederate Partisan Rangers and Union Redlegs
(Part two of two)
On August 13, 1863 the Longhorn Tavern in Kansas City collapsed under mysterious circumstances killing four women. It had been used as a makeshift prison for many of the arrested wives and sisters of known guerilla leaders. Beliveing that this was done purposely, Quantrill's raiders decided to raid Lawrence Kansas as "Pay Back."
In the early morning of August 21, Quantrill attacked Lawrence with a force estimated at 400 raiders. They attacked from the east after riding all night. The Partisan Rangers carried with them a "death list" of 12 local politicians and abolitionists who Quantrill held responsible for the hotel collapse. After failing to find any of the persons on the list, the raiders killed all of the men of military age they could find, looted the town bank and most of the businesses and dwellings. More than two hundred houses were destroyed or badly damaged while the downtown civic area was burned to the ground. The raid left 150 civilians dead and would become notorious as one of the most vicious atrocities of the Civil War.
On August 25, in retaliation for the raid, General Ewing authorized General Order No. 11 Designed to remove the partisan's base of support this order forced the depopulation of four entire Missouri counties along the Kansas border and pushed thousands of civilians from their land. Federal troops then marched through and razed the entire area to the ground along with the fields and forests. The region was so thoroughly destroyed it became known as the "Burnt District" and remained a virtual wasteland for a generation.
With the number of effective Federal cavalry growing everyday and their population base from which they drew resupply dwindling, many of the confederate units shrunk in size, retreated further south to join the regular army, or disbanded all together. These now demobilized men often joined the increasing number of "bushwhacker' groups of bandits that roamed the countryside robbing and looting sympathizers of both sides. Federal reports generally attributed the actions of these criminals to the confederate partisans which only fed the flames of hatred.
News came of General Lee's surrender in Virginia in April of 1865, followed closely by General Johnston's in North Carolina. Confederate partisans still had a few more battles before they laid down their arms. On May 7, a guerilla band composed of former members of Bloody Bill Anderson's company attacked the villages of Holden and Kingsville. General Kirby Smith, obstensively the commander of all units in the state officially surrendered Missouri as part of the Trans-Mississippi Department on May 25. Captain Quantrill, leader of the Lawrence raid, died of wounds received in battle on June 6th. Several uneasy weeks passed as the tattered fragments of guerilla bands either evaporated into the night or surrendered to federal troops. The last of the official unit surrenders took place in July 1865 with individual partisans still holding grudges and defying authority for years. This was believed to be the basis of the famous James-Cole-Younger Gang, the first of many outlaw bands that roamed the American west for rest of the century.
The last chapter of this tale was written when in 1882, after the death of his brother Jesse, Frank James personally handed his gun to Missouri Governor Crittenden and surrendered. He stated that: "I have been hunted for twenty-one years, have literally lived in the saddle, and have never known a day of perfect peace."
And with that, the war in Missouri finally ended.
Sources cited=
~Grey Ghosts of the Confederacy, by Richard Brownlee
~Quantrill and His Civil War Guerillas, by Carl Breihan
