Chasing Quantrill

On Aug. 23, 1863, Col. William C. Quantrill and his band of Confederate guerrillas attacked and destroyed much of Lawrence, Kan. This was one of the, if not the most successful Confederate raids in Kansas during the Civil War. Much has been written about the "sacking of Lawrence," but very little has been published about the pursuit of Quantrill and his band as they returned to Missouri after the raid. The following account of "Chasing Quantrill" has been edited because of its length and was written by Pvt. Albert R. Greene of Company A, 9th Kansas Volunteer Cavalry and was published in Volume XIII of the Kansas Collections on Pages 430 -- 451 in 1913 -- 1914.

"I was awakened by someone, 'Lawrence is in ashes and every man, woman and child in the town is dead.' Our column had halted in the streets of Olathe at the same moment. We had come twenty miles. We all recognized the well-known voice of Captain Flesher of Company E and his cordial, spontaneous, unaffected, fluent, comprehensive, and 'vociferous cussin'! From Olathe, we turned back to the south, confirming the belief that Quantrill was retreating. Every man's spirits rose as he thought of the probable success of this move to head off the enemy and punish him, not in Missouri, but in Kansas. There was no more sleeping in the ranks. At Spring Hill another messenger reached us with the word that no women or children had been killed but that there was not a living man or boy on the Lawrence town site.

A few miles south of Spring Hill is a prairie ridge ranging north and south. At this time the road followed the crest of the ridge to its abrupt termination north of where the village of Hillsdale now stands. Just then Major Thacher rode back and speaking to me said. "Take this [spy]glass and ride up to the top of the hill yonder and sweep the horizon to see what you can see, but make no sign until you are under the cover of the hill again."I took the glass and rode out as ordered. When I came to the top of the hill it was not necessary to use the glass, for below me and within a mile was Quantrill's whole command. Something had disturbed the guerrillas before I came into sight. The men were running hither and thither, gathering up horses and saddling them, collecting bundles and slinging them on other horses and other men apparently officers, were galloping up and down a line that was being formed, swinging their hats and gesticulating in the wildest manner. Turning the glass on the guerrillas, I saw that nearly every man had an extra horse and that these horses were loaded with plunder of every description, what appeared to be bolts of dry goods, bundles of shoes, clothing, etc.

To the southwest and within half a mile was Coleman's [reinforcement] column, 200 men strong, hurrying toward us and in our command not less than 300 men, all spoiling for a fight. It really began to look as if the hour of vengeance had come. By the time Coleman's command had come up, Quantrill was out of sight over a ridge to the east, but was not more than two miles away and there was yet time to overhaul him before he could reach the woods of the Grand River in Missouri, if matters were pushed.

Doubtless the exact spot where this command of five or six hundred men threw away the last chance for annihilating Quantrill and his gang is a meadow of pasture dotted over with white faced cattle or it may be the site of some stately farmhouse surrounded by trees and vines and other accessories of a happy home and it may be that the inhabitants of the region never heard of the crime committed there, but if the GHOSTS of the men murdered at Lawrence ever hold indignation meetings to abhor the arrest of the sword of justice and vengeance, it is there. And if the black spirits of the guerrillas ever sally forth for a respite from the torments of hell they should hold high carnival on that spot.

To the everlasting disgrace of the officer in command this was not done and as if to make the escape of the guerrillas doubly sure, Colonel Lynde [halted the pursuit] and called a Council of War! When the men had cursed until they were horse and Quantrill had been allowed to put a couple of miles between his command and its pursuers, the bugle sounded "Forward" and for the moment hope revived. It was but a moment, however, for when the command reached a favorable spot at the foot of the hill it was formed into line and the order given, "Prepare to Dismount".

This halt lasted about fifteen minutes, then the disintegrated line assumed shape again and the command moved off in a column of two's in a southeasterly direction with Company A in the advance. After going half a mile or so, we struck the trail of the enemy. Away we went up the trail. Packages of plunder lined the way. Piles of felt hats nested together, bolts of broadcloth, of silk, of calico; shoes tied in bundles, clothing of all sorts and description, shelf hardware and cutlery, table ware, etc. Our horses shied at it, trampled on it, leaped over it; hundreds of dollars worth of property, but not a man tried to get any of it for we had business of more importance.

The foregoing, compiled as to dates, names and places are from a daily journal kept by me during the war, completes what I personally saw and experienced of the pursuit of Quantrill after the Lawrence raid. '

Now then, Greene's narrative of the pursuit of "Quantrill" is not finished and its conclusion will be included in next week's column and of course the War Went On!