Timeline

Quantrill Raids Lawrence

The Ruins of Lawrence, sketched by a correspondant.
Friday, August 21, 1863

William Quantrill leads a guerilla force of about 400 men in a destructive surprise raid on Lawrence, Kansas, a town known since the early days of the border conflict as a free-state stronghold. Quantrill’s men kill about 180 men and boys and destroy about 185 buildings, including a total of about $1.5 million in property, equal today to more than $26 million. Quantrill’s forces soon cross back to Cass County in Missouri, escaping capture from Kansas federal troops led by General James H. Lane.

Citations: 

“Lawrence, Kans., Raid on,” in Historical Times Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Civil War, ed. Patricia Faust (New York: Harper & Row, 1986), 427

Jeremy Neely, The Border Between Them: Violence and Reconciliation on the Missouri-Kansas Line, (Columbia: University of Missouri, 2007), 121.

Monaghan, Western Border, 274-289.