Transcribed from volume II of Kansas: a cyclopedia of state history, embracing events, institutions, industries, counties, cities, towns, prominent persons, etc. ... / with a supplementary volume devoted to selected personal history and reminiscence. Standard Pub. Co. Chicago : 1912. 3 v. in 4. : front., ill., ports.; 28 cm. Vols. I-II edited by Frank W. Blackmar.

Quantrill, William Clarke, the notorious guerrilla leader, was born at Canal Dover, Ohio, July 31, 1837, and was the oldest of a family of eight children. His parents were from Hagerstown, Md. Thomas H. Quantrill, his father, was a tinner by trade, and at one time was principal of the Canal Dover Union school. His mother's maiden name was Caroline Clarke. Young Quantrill is said to have enjoyed the advantages of good training and at the age of sixteen years taught a term of school in Ohio. He got into trouble and came to Kansas in 1857, working for Col. Torrey in Lykins (Miami) county. He next taught a term of school in Stanton, Miami county, then made a trip to Utah and returned with the suspicion of murder clinging to him. During his residence in Kansas, part of the time under the assumed name of Charley Hart, he acquired the reputation of a moral degenerate and was regarded by those who knew him as a petty thief. He narrowly escaped lynching at the hands of citizens of Independence and Jackson county, Mo., for the despicable part he played during the Morgan-Walker episode, in which he led an expedition into Missouri for the ostensible purpose of liberating slaves, killing one of his companions and betraying the others, all of whom were slain. He joined the southern sympathizers and during the Civil war was at the head of a band of guerrillas, all of whom were experts in the use of firearms and fought mercilessly under the black flag. On Aug. 23, 1863, at the head of his followers, he led an attack on Lawrence, burning the town and engaging in a butchery without a parallel in modern warfare. (See Quantrill's raid.) On Oct. 6 the same year he made an attack on the federal forces at Baxter Springs and killed about 100 defenseless soldiers. During the latter part of the war he and his followers were driven east of the Mississippi river, and he was captured near Taylorsville, Ky., May 10, 1865, after a fight in which he was badly wounded. His death occurred at the military hospital in Louisville, Ky., June 6, 1865.

Page 524 from volume II of Kansas: a cyclopedia of state history, embracing events, institutions, industries, counties, cities, towns, prominent persons, etc. ... / with a supplementary volume devoted to selected personal history and reminiscence. Standard Pub. Co. Chicago : 1912. 3 v. in 4. : front., ill., ports.; 28 cm. Vols. I-II edited by Frank W. Blackmar. Transcribed July 2002 by Carolyn Ward.