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On May 21, Lawrence is sacked by proslavery agitators -- not for the last time. The Free State Hotel is targeted as a center of abolitionist sentiment. Here is a picture.
English journalist T.H. Gladstone tours Kansas during this troubled period. The evening after the sack of Lawrence he encounters a band of proslavery men who were involved in the raid. Here is his opinion of them.
The Sixth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry is formed in the summer of this year. For a summary of their service I have included their listing from Dyer's Compendium of the War of the Rebellion.
In August of 1863, William Clarke Quantrill raids Lawrence and murdered almost 200 men and boys. The governor of Kansas, Thomas Carney, writes a desparate letter to Major-General Schofield. Read it here.
Partly as a reponse to Quantrill's sack of Lawrence, the Fifteenth Kansas Cavalry forms in the Fall of 1863. Here is Dyer's summary of their service.
Quantrill causes much more mischief before coming to a bad end two years later. In the fall of 1863 he and his men pose as Federals and through trickery slaughter a large number of General Blunt's men. Here is a description of what came to be known as the "Baxter Springs Massacre."
October 27: A rebel force of Indians and Texans under Colonel Richard Gano surprises and overruns a Federal encampment at Massard Praire, several miles south of Fort Smith. Here is a report of the incident.
It was on that night that I first came in contact with the Missourian patriots. I had just arrived in Kansas City, and shall never forget the appearance of the lawless mob that poured into the place, inflamed with drink, loaded with the indulgence of the vilest passions, displaying with loud boasts the "plunder" they had taken from the inhabitants, and thirsting for the opportunity of repeating the sack of Lawrence in some other offending place. Men, for the most part of large frame, with red flannel shirts and immense boots worn outside their trousers, their faces unwashed and unshaven, still reaking with the dust and smoke of Lawrence, wearing the most savage looks, and giving utterance to the most horrible imprecations and blasphemies; armed, moreover, to the teeth with rifles and revolvers, cutlasses and bowie knives, -- such were the men I saw around me. Some displayed a grotesque intermixture in their dress, having crossed their native red rough shirt with the satin vest or narrow dress-coat pillaged from the wardrobe of some Lawrence Yankee, or having girded themselves with the cords and tassels which the day before had ornamented the curtains of the Free State Hotel. Looking around these groups of drunken, billowing, blood thirsty demons, who crowded around the bar of the hotel, shouting for drink, or vented their furious noise on the levy without, I felt that all my former experiences of border men and Missourians bore faint comparison with the spectacle presented by this wretched crew, who appeared only the more terrifying from the darkness of the surrounding night. The hotel in Kansas City, where we were, was the next, they said, that should fall; the attack was being planned that night, and such, they declared, should be the end of every place which was built by free state men, or that harbored "those rascally abolitionists." Happily this threat was not fulfilled.
Source: The Englishman in Kansas, by T. H.
Gladstone, pp. 41- 42.
6th REGIMENT CAVALRY.
Organized at Fort Scott July, 1861. Attached to Dept of Kansas to August, 1862.
2nd Brigade, Dept. of Kansas, to October, 1862. 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, Army
of the Frontier, Dept. of Missouri, to February, 1863 1st Brigade, 1st Division,
Army of the Frontier, to June 1863. District of the Frontier, Dept. of Missouri,
to January, 1864. District of the Frontier, 7th Corps, Dept of Arkansas, to
March, 1864. 3rd Brigade, District of the Frontier, 7th Corps, to January, 1865.
2nd Brigade 3rd Division, 7th Corps, to February, 1865. 1st Brigade 2nd
Division, 7th Corps, to August, 1865.
SERVICE.--Duty at Fort Scott till March, 1862. Dry wood Creek, Fort Scott,
September 1, 1861. Morristown September 17. Osceola September 20, 21 and 22.
(The 3 original Cos. march to Fort Lincoln September 1 1861; thence return to
Fort Scott.) Little Santa Fe Mo., November 6. Regiment reorganized March 27
1862, and "A," "B" and "C," original Companies, mustered out. Duty at Fort Scott
till May. Carthage, Mo. March 23. Diamond Grove April 14. Lost Creek April 15.
Companies "C," "H" and "K" moved to Carthage Mo., with 15th Kansas, rejoining
May. Regiment stationed at various points on southern line of Kansas
Headquarters at Paoli till June. Concentrated at For Scott. Expedition into
Indian Territory May 25-July (Cos. "C," "H" and "K"). Reconnoissance from Grand
River to Fort Gibson, Tahliquah and Park Hill, and skirmishes June 14-17.
Regiment Joined June 20. Expedition into Cherokee Country July 2-August 1. Stan
Watie's Mill July 4 (2 Cos.). Expedition from Fort Leavenworth to Independence
August 12-14 (1 Co.). Clear Creek August 19. Taboursville August 20. Osage Rive
August 21. Coon Creek, near Lamar, and Lamar, At gust 24. Operations in
Southwest Missouri September to December. Expedition through Jackson, Cass, John
son and Lafayette Counties, Mo., September 8-23 ( Co.). Hickory Grove September
19. Granby September 24. Newtonia September 30. Occupation of Newtonia
Regiment lost during service 4 Officers and 81 Enlisted men killed and mortally
wounded and 3 Officers and 140 Enlisted men by disease. Total 228.
LEAVENWORTH, KANS., August 24, 1863.
Major-General SCHOFIELD,
Saint Louis, Mo.:
SIR:
Disaster has again fallen on our State. Lawrence is in ashes. Millions of
property have been destroyed, and, worse yet, nearly 200 lives of our best
citizens have been sacrificed. No fiends in human shape could have acted with
more savage barbarity than did Quantrill and his band in their last successful
raid. I must hold Missouri responsible for this fearful, fiendish raid. No body
of men large as that commanded by Quantrill could have been gathered together
without the people residing in Western Missouri knowing everything about it.
Such people cannot be considered loyal, and should not be treated as loyal
citizens; for while they conceal the movements of desperadoes like Quantrill and
his followers, they are, in the worst sense of the word, their aiders and
abettors, and should be held equally guilty. There is no way of reaching these
armed ruffians while the civilian is permitted to cloak him.
There can be no peace in Missouri, there will be utter desolation in Kansas,
unless both are made to feel promptly the rigor of military law. The peace of
both States and the safety of the republic demand alike this resolute course of
action. I urge upon you, therefore, the adoption of this policy, as the only
policy which can save both Western Missouri and Kansas; for if this policy be
not immediately adopted, the people themselves, acting upon the common principle
of self-defense, will take the matter in their own hands and avenge their own
wrongs. You will not misunderstand me. I do not use, or intend to use, any
threats. I tell you only what our people almost to a man feel. The excitement
over the success of Quantrill is intense--intense all over the State--and I do
not see how I can hesitate to demand, or how you can refuse to grant, a court of
inquiry by which the cause of that fatal success may be fully investigated, and
all the facts laid before the public. I go even further. I demand that this
court of inquiry shall have power to investigate all matter touching military
wrong-doings in Kansas, and I do this most earnestly, to guarantee alike our
present and future safety.
As regards arms, we are destitute. There are none at the fort, and none in the
State. I telegraphed the Secretary of War this fact asking him to turn over to
me here arms in sufficient quantity to meet our wants. He ordered it done, and
replied, further, that anything the Government could do to aid Kansas should be
done. This being so, will you not express to me arms for cavalry and infantry
sufficient to arm three regiments?
I inclose the copy of the dispatch of the Secretary of War to me, that you may
see its purport and understand its spirit.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
THOS. CARNEY,
Governor.
Source: OR, Series I, Volume XXII/1
15th REGIMENT CAVALRY.
Organized at Leavenworth September and October, 1863. Attached to District of
the Border, Dept. of Missouri, to January, 1864. Dept. of Kansas to June, 1864.
Districts of North and South Kansas, Dept. Missouri, to October, 1865.
SERVICE.--Assigned to duty at Leavenworth and at various points in Southern
Kansas, at Olathe, Paola, Coldwater Grove, Trading Post, Fort Scott, Osage
Mission and Humboldt by detachments (Co. "H" at Fort Riley) till October, 1864.
Skirmish at Clear Creek, Mo., May 16, 1864 (Detachments of Companies "D" and
"L"). Scout from Fort Leavenworth to Weston, Mo., June 13-16, 1864. Expedition
into Missouri June 16-20 (Cos. "B," "C" and "G"). Price's Raid in Missouri and
Kansas September to November. Lexington October 19. Little Blue October 21.
Independence, Big Blue and State Line October 22. Westport October 23. Coldwater
Grove, Osage, October 24. Mine Creek, Little Osage River, and battle of Charlot
October 25. Newtonia October 28. Duty in Dept. of Kansas and Dept. of the
Missouri till October, 1865. Mustered out October 19, 1865. Company "H" mustered
out December 7, 1865.
Regiment lost during service 2 Officers and 19 Enlisted men killed and mortally
wounded and 2 Officers and 77 Enlisted men by disease. Total 100.
JULY 1-31, 1864.--Operations in Arkansas.
Report of Lieut. William Burgoyne, Adjutant Sixth Kansas Cavalry, of action at
Massard Prairie, near Fort Smith, July 27.
FORT SMITH, ARK., July 29, 1864.
COLONEL: In obedience to orders I respectfully make the following report of the
action on Massard Prairie July 27, 1864:
Between 6 and 7 a.m. on the morning of the 27th instant Sergeant Tubbs, Company
D, in command of picket post No. 1, on Jenny Lind road, reported to me that the
enemy in force were advancing on our camp very rapidly. I at once sent a
messenger to you by way of the camp of Company I, camped on the Texas road, and
also sent a messenger to the commanding officer Fourteenth Kansas Cavalry,
camped about two miles from us and on our left, notifying them of the approach
of the enemy. Lieutenant Defriese, the officer of the day, at my suggestion
started in the direction of the firing' to ascertain particulars. It was not
five minutes after the first alarm before firing commenced on the right of camp,
Company B being camped on the right of our line. At the same time the enemy were
discovered on our left and in front, coming through the timber. The horses were
driven in as soon as possible, but too late. The men had not time to saddle. The
yells of the enemy and the firing stampeded the horses. Almost all of them
started across the prairie in the direction of Fort Smith. The men fell in on
their company parades and moved out on the prairie with the intention of gaining
the timber on the north side of the prairie, having given up all hopes of saving
the camp. When the force was discovered on our left I ordered Sergeant Goss, who
had about ten men mounted (of Company D), to go to the rise of ground on our
left and if possible check the enemy. I followed them in a short time,
endeavoring to make a stand and also to ascertain the enemy's movements. Up to
this time had seen or heard nothing of the Fourteenth Kansas Cavalry. The enemy
charged down on the left, scattering the little party above referred to and
cutting them off from the rest of the regiment. I tried all in my power to rally
what few men of the regiment that were mounted in order to render what
assistance we could to Captain Mefford, who was fighting and falling back, the
enemy charging upon him, delivering their fire, then retiring out of range of
his Sharps rifles. The regiment by this time was surrounded, a number had been
killed, wounded, and captured, and the enemy's stragglers were engaged in
stripping them.
At this time the few mounted men broke through the enemy's lines and tried to
make the north side of the prairie, hotly pursued by, I should think,
seventy-five or one hundred men, firing all the time. They followed to the
timber, where one of their number was killed. We came in on the Greenwood road
with some considerable loose stock. It is much to be deplored that we had not
time to get the horses saddled. Had we had but ten minutes' warning almost every
man would have been mounted. We then could have cut our way through the enemy's
lines and kept him busy until re-enforcements arrived. As it was, the men were
run down and compelled to surrender, which the last of them did at the house in
the middle of the prairie, Captain Mefford being with them. The men behaved
splendidly, repulsing repeated charges of the enemy's cavalry, Captain Mefford
doing all in his power to keep the men well in hand and stimulating them by his
example. Lieutenant Morehead was slightly wounded in the early part of the
action; Lieutenant Defriese, who was captured, and Lieutenant Shattuc assisting
Captain Mefford nobly. The regimental records, flag, &c.;, I placed in a wagon
as soon as the firing commenced and started it for town. It was, however,
captured about a mile from camp. They took everything in the shape of pens, ink,
and paper. What they could not carry away they destroyed, throwing it in the
grass. Our loss in killed, wounded, and taken prisoners is very heavy, Captain
Mefford and Lieutenant Defriese being captured, together with nearly all the men
that were in camp. Copies of reports of Lieutenant Morehead and Lieutenant
Shattuc, also lists of killed, wounded, and the number of prisoners, are
inclosed.
Number captured: Capt. D. Mefford, Company H, in command of battalion; Lieut. J.
M. Defriese, Company E; Company B, 40; Company E, 34; Company D, 18; Company H,
21; Company L, 7; total, 120.
Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
WM. BURGOYNE,
Lieutenant and Adjutant Sixth Kansas Cavalry.
Col. WILLIAM R. JUDSON,
Commanding Third Brigade.
Source: O.R.--SERIES I--VOLUME LIII
It was on that night that I first came in contact with the Missourian patriots. I had just arrived in Kansas City, and shall never forget the appearance of the lawless mob that poured into the place, inflamed with drink, loaded with the indulgence of the vilest passions, displaying with loud boasts the "plunder" they had taken from the inhabitants, and thirsting for the opportunity of repeating the sack of Lawrence in some other offending place. Men, for the most part of large frame, with red flannel shirts and immense boots worn outside their trousers, their faces unwashed and unshaven, still reaking with the dust and smoke of Lawrence, wearing the most savage looks, and giving utterance to the most horrible imprecations and blasphemies; armed, moreover, to the teeth with rifles and revolvers, cutlasses and bowie knives, -- such were the men I saw around me. Some displayed a grotesque intermixture in their dress, having crossed their native red rough shirt with the satin vest or narrow dress-coat pillaged from the wardrobe of some Lawrence Yankee, or having girded themselves with the cords and tassels which the day before had ornamented the curtains of the Free State Hotel. Looking around these groups of drunken, billowing, blood thirsty demons, who crowded around the bar of the hotel, shouting for drink, or vented their furious noise on the levy without, I felt that all my former experiences of border men and Missourians bore faint comparison with the spectacle presented by this wretched crew, who appeared only the more terrifying from the darkness of the surrounding night. The hotel in Kansas City, where we were, was the next, they said, that should fall; the attack was being planned that night, and such, they declared, should be the end of every place which was built by free state men, or that harbored "those rascally abolitionists." Happily this threat was not fulfilled.
Source: The Englishman in Kansas, by T. H. Gladstone, pp. 41- 42.