Quantrill's Raid...threatened to renew the cycle of violence of the border war and expand the antislavery war."
NICOLE ETCHESON, " BLEEDING KANSAS: CONTESTED LIBERTY IN THE CIVIL WAR ERA", 2004
The destruction of the raid shocked the whole nation and invigorated tensions of the Civil War.
In national magazines there were Illustrations of what the raid may have been like, but those kinds of images spread the news of the raid and really set it up as a national tragedy." The news of the raid spread surprisingly quickly considering that Lawrence didn't have a telegraph, which was the quickest means of communication in 1863 and it didn't have a railroad. But within two days it appeared on the front page of the New York Times." |
New York Times on 22 Aug. 1863, Newspaper Archives.
Click on red dot to view section pertaining to the raid. |
both sides of the country that were fighting in the civil war heard about it very quickly and as you can imagine supporters of the union were outraged by this massacre, frankly that happened in such an important town. A town that was important for the abolition cause and for keeping Kansas in the union."
DR. WILLIAM HICKOX, PERSONAL INTERVIEW, 5 APRIL 2019
General Order No. 11
The Union’s outrage led them to strike back at Missouri civilians.
General Order No. 11 which became notorious in which they rounded up the people who were deemed to be confederate supporters in four counties along the Kansas Missouri border and essentially drove them from their homes, several thousand people....this created an area that came to be known as the 'Burnt District'."
DR. WILLIAM HICKOX, PERSONAL INTERVIEW, 5 APRIL 2019
Order no. 11 was the answer to a number of different problems: depopulating the border counties helped the military effort to end bushwhacking; harsh retribution after quantrill's raid quieted the panic in kansas and prevented retaliation against missouri." Order No. 11 was one of the most controversial Union actions. It was a triumph for the Union, but a tragedy for Missourians.
The Road from independence to lexington was crowded with women and children, women walking with their babies in their arms, packs on their backs, and four or five children following after them...some crying to be taken back to their homes." ...Constitution and laws, however carefully framed, are no guarantees of the right of a people when their public affairs are committed to the hands of the unworthy and treacherous agents." |
...you see this is part of a whole process of warfare on the border becoming increasingly more brutal. Where civilians are seen by some leaders as legitimate targets for destruction and looting and warfare..."
DR. WILLIAM HICKOX, PERSONAL INTERVIEW, 5 APRIL 2019
While General Order No.11 was carried out, the people of Lawrence rebuilt.