xt73n58cg542 https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt73n58cg542/data/mets.xml Connelley, William Elsey, 1855-1930. 1910  books b92bq25c2009 English The Torch Press : Cedar Rapids, La., Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Quantrill, William Clarke, 1837-1865 Guerrillas Missouri --History --Civil War, 1861-1865 Kansas --History --1854-1861 Quantrill and the border wars text Quantrill and the border wars 1910 2009 true xt73n58cg542 section xt73n58cg542 
    
    
    
    
   Quantrill and the Border Wars 
    
    
   WILLIAM CLARKE QUANTRILL THE GUERRILLA CHIEF 
   Quantrill and the Border Wars

By

William Elsey Connelley

Author of "Doniphan's Expedition, Mexican "War," "Memoirs of John James Ingalls," "Wyandot Folk-Lore," "The Heckewelder Narrative," "The Provisional Government of Nebraska Territory," etc.

CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA THE TORCH PRESS, PUBLISHERS 1910 
    
   PKEFACE

PIE border wars must be taken to constitute a phase of

that critical period in American history when two an-

tagonistic fundamentals of government contended for supremacy. The devotion of adherents to respective principles was fanatical and fierce, and unusual animosities were engendered.

By stormy conventions the two ideas of the destiny of our common country were reconciled in our growth to the Mississippi. Newly bound and hedged about, they were flung upon the soil of Missouri. But the compromise of a principle is a crime, and the feeble barriers set by time-serving statesmen became tense and strained. The advance-guard of a higher national life burst them asunder and emerged upon the Great Plains. There the contest to maintain itself became a grapple for the existence of the government, and ended in civil war.

The story of the border is the history of preliminary forays and the shock of army upon army in the national contest. It covers ten years. In wealth of romantic incidents, stirring adventures, hair-breadth escapes, sanguinary ambuscades, deadly encounters, individual vengeance, relentless desolation of towns and communities, and bloody murder, no other part of America can compare with it. Some future Scott will make himself immortal by telling this wonderful story.

This is the first effort, it is believed, to make any serious study of the conditions prevailing on the border. The state of society about Lawrence as shown in the year 1860 may be accepted as representative of the general conditions found in Kansas up to the Civil "War, and no attempt to describe them has been found. The state of disorder in Missouri was the result in some degree of the reaction upon itself of its course in Kansas. The time has not yet come when a dispassionate study of the conditions which existed in Missouri will be acceptable

 
   6

QUANTRILL AND THE BORDER WARS

to all the people of that great commonwealth. But the position that the Missourian suffered most from his brother Missourian is founded on facts and will be sustained by future writers.

Nothing has been written in a sensational way. The simple statement of what occurred is sensational enough, and the old idea that truth is stranger than fiction is demonstrated.

Except the men at the heads of the respective governments, and some of the leading generals, Quantrill is the most widely-known man connected with the Civil War. His place in the public estimation of the South was based upon a misapprehension of his life and motives. He voluntarily imposed himself on the South. He told little of his prior life, and that which he did tell was wholly untrue. It is due to the South that his life be revealed as it actually was. That done, his character and his motives stand clearly outlined. Heretofore there has been nothing on which to base a reason for many incidents in the warfare of the border.

It is one of the strange decrees of fate that the normal man is rarely mentioned in history or literature. The citizen who labors diligently to support his family, to build up his city, to sustain his state, gets little or no notice in the annals of his time. It is the abnormal man, the man in desperate extremity, who is portrayed for the amusement or instruction of mankind.

This work could never have been written fully but for the preliminary labors of the late W. W. Scott, editor of the Iron Valley Reporter, Canal Dover, Ohio. He grew up with Quantrill, and it was his desire to write an account of the life of the noted guerrilla. He secured from Mrs. Quantrill the letters written her by her son. He traveled extensively to secure facts. He located the grave and removed the body. Mrs. Quantrill stipulated that the story of her son should not be written in her lifetime. But she outlived Mr. Scott, and he never got beyond the point of gathering material. After his death the author bought his papers.

Many of the most stirring events of the border wars do not properly fall within the scope of this work. It is the intention of the author to publish another book in which will appear adequate 
   PREFACE

7

accounts of the transactions and doings in the Border Wars of Atchison, Lane, Brown, Robinson, Thayer, Shelby, Jennison, Hoyt, Bill Anderson, Clements, the Youngers, the James boys, George Todd, Senator Steven B. Elkins, Captain "William H. Gregg, and the operations generally of Free-State pioneers, border-ruffians, Red Legs, Guerrillas, and Jayhawkers in the disorders on the border.

The author realizes that there may be some objection to the repetition of the statement in the notes that documents cited as authority may be found in his Collection. But long and persistent effort failed to devise a better plan.

This is not designed to be a "Life" of Quantrill, but an account of those incidents of the Border Wars in which he and his men were the leading characters. All that could be learned of the famous outlaw and his family has been set down. It was necessary that this work should be written. Little of the story has ever been told. There has been no definite information. All has been myth, doubt, assertion, beautiful generalization, conjecture. In a general way it has been known that banditti infested the border, that ruthless hands were red with blood, that many a night flared red with burning homes and sacked towns. But of the family and parentage of Quantrill, his life in Illinois, Indiana, Kansas     of his trip to Utah and. Pike's Peak, his school, his life at Lawrence, and the Morgan Walker raid   of the organization of his band of guerrillas, its operations in Missouri, Kansas, Texas, and what is now Oklahoma, of his expulsion therefrom and the disintegration thereof :    of his life with Kate Clarke, his expedition to Kentucky and his operations there     of his death, burial, and exhumation     of these things no man has been able to speak with confidence, for knowledge of them was not at hand. And the importance of this information is realized when we remember that it embraces much of the history of four states in the Civil War and portrays the bloodiest man known to the annals of America.

There is no good portrait of Quantrill.  He had a tin-type 
   8 QUANTRILL AND THE BORDER WARS

made at the beginning of the war. It was lost in the yard of one Fields, in Jackson county, who found it and preserved it until Thomson Quantrill came to Missouri. He demanded the picture and it was given to him, but it was first photographed. The photographs made from this tin-type, which had lain in the ground some time, are all the portraits known of Quantrill. Some one supposed he wore a mustache, and with a brush supplied one. E. P. DeHart had the portrait painted in Confederate uniform in company with a character known as "Indian Jim,'' no copy of which has been found. A. M. "Winner, Kansas City, Mo., had it painted in Confederate uniform, rank of Colonel, prints of which are common.

William E. Connelley

816 Lincoln Street Topeka, Kansas July 3, 1909 
   MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS

Portrait of Quantrill......frontispiece

Anderson, Bill........ 316

Baker, H. W......... 351

Ball, Charles........ 140

Bones of Quantrill's Right Arm..... 35

Citt Hotel, Lawrence, ("Where the prisoners were taken) 344

Clarke, Henry S.....                          .      .      .          358

Clements, Arch........ 269

Collamore, George "W....... 352

Colt, Colonel Samuel....... 320

Crane, John L.......... 354

Bldridge, Colonel S. W....... 341

Facsimile of Quantrill's Last Letter    .     .     . 126

Fisher, Rev. H. D........ 362

Gregg, Captain William H....... 341

Griswold, Dr. J. F........ 350

Grovenor, Gurdon........ 362

Harris, Nannie........ 299

Hays, Colonel Upton....... 261

Hockensmith, Clark....... 473

House in Which Quantrill was Born     ... 24

Hulse, William........ 240

James, Frank......... 478

James, Jesse......... 318

Jarrette, Captain John...... 317

Kerr, Charity........ 301

Lane, General James H....... 398

Leland, Cyrus, Sr.,.........428

Leland, Lieutenant Cyrus, Jr...... 397

Lipsey, Chalkley T. ...... 141

Long, Peyton......... 463

Maddox, Dick......... 251 
   10        QUANTRILL AND THE BORDER WARS

Maddox, George W. .      .      .      . .      . 357

Maps   

1. Showing Quantrill's Operations in Kansas  facing index

2. Showing Localities in Lawrence at time of Massacre

.   facing page 335

3. Plan of Morgan "Walker House    .... 157

4. Fletcher Farm and Ottawa Crossing   .      .      . 402

5. Attack on Fort Baxter     .     .     .      .     . 423

6. Baxter Springs Massacre..... 426

7. The Wakefield Farm...... 472

McMurtry, Lee     .            .     .     .     .      .     . 257

Parmer, Allen........ 464

Pelathe, the Shawnee...... 332

Plumb, Major Preston B.    

1. As United States Senator..... 408

2. In Uniform of Major..... 411

Pool, Dave......... 424

Quantrill, William C......frontispiece

Quantrill, William C, in Confederate Uniform       . 421

Quantrill, Caroline Clarke...... 31

Quantrill, Thomas H....... 23

Randlett, Lieutenant Reuben A.       .... 226

Rankin, Colonel John K....... 399

Read, Fred W.......                                          .      .      . 367

Revolver, Colt's Navy, Model of 1843     ... 321

Riggs, Judge Samuel A......... 366

Savage, Joseph........ 347

Sharps's Rifle Carried in Morgan Walker Raid by Edwin

Morrison......... 152

Shawnee House, Lawrence, (the old Waverley House) 385

Southwick, Albert ....... 143

Speer, John, the Covenanter..... 388

Speer, John M......... 391

Speer, Robert      . ...... 391

Taylor, Fletch........ 440

Thorpe, S. M......... 351

Todd, Captain George......    454

Trask, Josiah C......                                  .     .     . 350 
   MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS 11

Van Ness, Alice......                                            .     . 30-4

Walker, Morgan   ........ 154

"Walker, Morgan, House op...... 156

"Walker, Sheriff Samuel...... 129

"White Turkey........ 381

Younger, Cole........ 432

Younger, James........ 178 
    
   TABLE OP CONTENTS

Preface .......... 5

Chapter I

The Quantrill Family......17

Chapter II

Early Life of Quantrill.....42

Chapter III

From Ohio to Kansas......54

Chapter IV

Quantrill in Kansas and Utah .... 62 Chapter V

Quantrill as a Kansas Teacher .... 86 Chapter VI

Quantrill as Charley Hart     Lawrence . . 103 Chapter VII

Quantrill as Charley Hart     A Border Ruffian

at Lawrence...... . 113

Chapter VIII

Quantrill as Charley Hart     A Jayhawker at

Lawrence........131

Chapter IX

Quantrill as Charley Hart     The Traitor     The

Morgan Walker Raid......140

Chapter X

Quantrill as Charley Hart     The Traitor     The

Morgan Walker Raid......152

Chapter XI

Quantrill the Forsworn     What He Told the

Missourians........166

Chapter XII

Aftermath of the Morgan Walker Raid . . 174 Chapter XIII

Quantrill's Return to Kansas     .... 181 
   14 QUANTRILL AND THE BORDER WARS

Chapter XIV

Quantrill Becomes a Guerrilla .... 196 Chapter XV

Conditions in Missouri......206

Chapter XVI

Quantrill   Becomes   Notorious     Aubry and

Other Skirmishes......220

Chapter XVII

Quantrill Outlawed     Big Blue Bridge     Tate

House.........236

Chapter XVIII

Quantrill, the Guerrilla Chief     Pink Hill     the Clark Farm     At Sni Ford     The Lowe

House.........248

Chapter XIX

Quantrill in the Summer of 1862 . . . . 254 Chapter XX

Quantrill at Independence.....259

Chapter XXI

Quantrill a Confederate Captain . . . 269 Chapter XXII

Quantrill Goes to Richmond, Virginia . . 278 Chapter XXIII

The Lawrence Massacre     I . . . . 284 Chapter XXIV

The Lawrence Massacre     II     .     .     .     . 298

Chapter XXV

The Lawrence Massacre     III .... 308 Chapter XXVI

The Lawrence Massacre     IV .... 323 Chapter XXVII

The Lawrence Massacre     V .... 329 Chapter XXVIII

The Lawrence Massacre     VI .... 335 Chapter XXIX

The Lawrence Massacre     VII     Incidents of the Massacre.......346 
   TABLE OF CONTENTS

15

Chapter XXX

The Lawrence Massacre     VIII;   Departure of

the Guerrillas.......378

Chapter XXXI

The Lawrence Massacre     IX     Pursuit of the

Guerrillas........396

Chapter XXXII

The Baxter Springs Massacre .... 421 Chapter XXXIII

Disintegration of the Quantrill Band . . 435 Chapter XXXIV

Quantrill in the Summer of 1864 . . . 451 Chapter XXXV

Quantrill Leaves Missouri.....454

Chapter XXXVI

Quantrill in Kentucky......460

Chapter XXXVII

Quantrill the Fatalist......466

Chapter XXXVIII

The Last Battle.......471

Chapter XXXIX

Death     .........480 
    
   CHAPTER I

THE QUANTRILL; FAMILY

HAGERSTOWN, Maryland, seems to have been the seat of the Quantrill family in America. No effort to trace its origin has been made, but from what information there is to be had on the subject and from a study of the Christian names, it would appear that the family is of English extraction. And Captain Thomas Quantrill boasted that his ancestors came from England to Maryland, and that they were pure English.

Thomas Quantrill was the captain of a company raised at Hagerstown for service in the War of 1812. It is of record that he was a brave soldier, and that he was wounded at the battle of North Point, as were two of his men, Lazarus B. Wilson and his brother Samuel.  And a number were killed.1

Captain Thomas Quantrill was a blacksmith at Hagerstown. He married Miss Judith Heiser, a sister of William Heiser, a man of high character, for many years the president of a bank at Hagerstown, and a man of wealth.2

1 Letter of Oliver M. Wilson, Kansas City, Kansas, April 2, 1898, to W. W. Scott, now in the Collection of the author. Wilson was the son of the soldier, Lazarus B. Wilson. He mentions a history and roster of Captain Thomas Quantrill's Company as being in his possession.

2 Thomas Quantrill quit his trade and became a horse-trader.

He was a blacksmith and married Judy Heiser, sister of William Heiser, for a great many years president of the Hagerstown bank and one of the wealthiest men in the locality and of high character. Probably the wealth of his brother-in-law fired the ambition of Mr. Thomas Quantrill to make riches faster than over the anvil. For he gave up blacksmithing and turned horse trader. Our informant recalls yet more than one instance that got abroad of Mr. Quantrill's sharp practices in horse-dealing. He was a handsome man, dressed well, lived fast, and merely gained the reputation of a sharp operator who was to be watched in a business transaction; he didn't forfeit his standing in the community beyond this notoriety for sharp-dealing.     Clipping from the Keokuk, Iowa, Gate City, August 17, 1882, now in the Collection of the author.

The Quantrill blood was evidently bad, the grandfather of the raider 
   18        QUANTRILL AND THE BORDER WARS

A number of children were born to Captain Thomas Quantrill at Hagerstown, among them William (so named for his Uncle William Heiser), Archibald, Thomas Henry, and Jesse Duncan. The last named died when eight or nine years old, and William's name was changed to Jesse Duncan. There were other sons, the names of whom are not remembered. One of them, it is said, became a pirate on the high seas, operating many years on the Gulf of Mexico between Galveston Island and the mouth of the Sabine; but this may have been a brother of Captain Thomas Quantrill.

Captain Thomas Quantrill often visited his son Thomas Henry, in Canal Dover, where he was regarded as a man of fine appearance.3 He moved to Washington City, where he died of apoplexy. He was stricken in front of the Treasury building and died suddenly.

Jesse Duncan Quantrill was sent to New York City to attend school. He returned to Hagerstown with two accomplishments    boxing and great skill with a pen. He was his father's favorite, was indulged, and grew up in idleness and mischief. He was a sort of fop or dandy with criminal instincts and tendencies, a dashing, handsome man, wholly devoid of moral char-was a professional gambler. I knew him pretty well, having been introduced to him by his son, Thomas H. Quantrill, at Dover, and met him afterwards, occasionally in this city. A brother of Thomas H. Quantrill was what would now be called a confidence man; he traveled through the Southern States, locating in some city where he would engage himself to the Belle of the place and buy all the jewelry, watches, carriages, etc., he could get credit for and just about the time the bills would come due, would skip to some other place and go through the same performance. He was finally arrested, tried and convicted, and sentenced to states prison for twenty years.     Letter of John W. Harmon, 1087 Dean Street, Brooklyn, N. T., December 19, 1900, to W. W. Scott, now in the Collection of the author.

John W. Harmon was a traveling salesman who lived many years in Canal Dover, Ohio, and who moved to Brooklyn. He was a man of excellent character, as the author is informed by Mrs. Frances Beeson Thompson, daughter of H. V. Beeson, who knpw him until the Beeson family came to Kansas.

It will be noted that Captain Thomas Quantrill visited Brooklyn. Perhaps he did so in his vocation of professional gambler.

3 I have seen old Mr. Quantrill the father of Thos. In Canal Dover frequently, a tall 6 foot portly old Gent., quite respectfull looking.     From letter of E. V. Beeson, Paola, Kansas, June 5, 1880, to W. W. Scott, now in the Collection of the author. 
   THE QUANTRILL FAMILY

19

acter. Mary Lane, daughter of Seth Lane, said to have been one of the foremost citizens of Hagerstown, became infatuated with him, and they were clandestinely married. She was to inherit a considerable sum of money at a certain age which she had not attained by a year when married. By making a very full and sweeping relinquishment he secured this money from the bank in which it had been deposited, and which, it was affirmed, belonged in part to Seth Lane and his son. "When his wife had attained her majority he endeavored to collect the money again, alleging that the bank had no legal right to pay the money at the time it had been paid.

With the money of his wife he had engaged in the grocery business at Williamsport, Md. This business was a failure, and the money was lost. He then determined to engage in larger operations. He went to New York City, where he represented himself to be the son of a wealthy Virginia merchant well known there, and purchased on credit a large stock of goods, which he caused to be shipped to himself at Baltimore. This swindle was discovered by the merchants in time to stop a portion of the shipment and save some of the goods. But he succeeded in disposing of a part of the merchandise in a way which baffled all attempts to trace it. To avoid the consequences of this transaction he availed himself of the benefit of the law for bankrupts, but as his action was based on fraud he was cast into prison. For six months his beautiful wife shared his cell. He finally secured an acquittal and was released. While in prison he had read law under directions from William Price, one of the leading lawyers of Western Maryland.

From Maryland Jesse D. Quantrill went to St. Louis, Mo., where he was soon in trouble and in jail, securing his release finally through the efforts of his wife, who still clung to him. Upon his release he took boat for Cincinnati, and while on board committed a forgery which seems to have been discovered at once, and for which he escaped punishment. From Cincinnati he went to New Orleans, where he became dissipated and began to neglect and abuse his wife. She fell ill, and her condition appeared to work a change in him. He started by boat to take her home to Maryland; but while the boat was yet on the Mis- 
   20        QUANTRILL AND THE BORDER WARS

sissippi river he committed a forgery on a Cincinnati bank. He was soon detected in this crime, was taken to Cincinnati and thrown into jail. After a confinement in prison of seven months his wife succeeded in securing him bail, which he forfeited by not appearing for trial, deserting his wife at that place. She next heard of him at Hagerstown, where he was in trouble for a forgery he committed there, but for which he escaped conviction. He then went to Pennsylvania, where he was sentenced to a term of imprisonment in the penitentiary for forgery, and he served three years. While serving this sentence his wife secured a divorce from him, it is said, by the act of the Maryland Legislature. When he heard of her action in procuring the divorce he made many savage threats against her life. But upon his release from prison he married a Pennsylvania lady, and was soon thereafter arrested for another forgery, for which he was sentenced to a term of seven years in the penitentiary.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Quantrill had married Mr. A. Cowton, proprietor of the United States Hotel, Cumberland, Maryland, with whom she was living happily. Quantrill was released from the Pennsylvania penitentiary in 1848. In March, 1849, he appeared in Cumberland. On the fifth of that month Mrs. Cowton was in her apartments, when a servant showed up a gentleman who had just arrived in the city. He dismissed the servant, and closed and locked the door. He then turned to Mrs. Cowton, who was horrified to behold Quantrill, her former husband. There was murder in his looks, and she screamed for help. He told her that her hour had come, caught her by the throat, threw her to the floor, placed his knee upon her breast, and snapped a pistol in her face. When the pistol missed fire, and just as he was drawing a long knife, several persons who had been attracted by her screams, broke down the door and rescued Mrs. Cowton. For this attempt to murder he was sentenced to a term of imprisonment. He must have possessed a fascinating personality, for he soon obtained an unaccountable influence over the prison officials and was allowed considerable freedom, even acting as guard over other prisoners. In 1851 he was pardoned upon condition that he would leave the state and never return.

When Jesse D. Quantrill left Maryland he went to Canal 
   THE QUANTRILL FAMILY

21

Dover, Ohio, where his brother Thomas Henry then lived. There he was engaged for a time as jockey and horse-dealer, for or in connection with his father. And it is quite probable that the resident brother was interested in the business. The horses were purchased and prepared for the markets in the cities to the east. The tails of the horses were scored on the under side and then tied up in an elevated position to heal, usually suspended for a time from an over-head beam. This was a cruel process, resorted to for the purpose of causing the horse's tail when healed to stand away from the body, giving it a graceful carriage, greatly improving the general appearance of the animal. After a year or two spent in this business at Canal Dover, Jesse D. Quantrill disappeared and never returned there, though intelligence of him and his doings reached the village for years afterwards. It was known that he assumed various names, one of which was Dr. Hayne; he was also known as Jesse Elliott and Jesse Elliott Quantrill. He married and deserted six women.'' There has been much said of a John Quantrill who was believed to have become a guerrilla in the West during the Civil War.  It was supposed that he was in Missouri, from whence he

4 Thomas Quantrill and myself at one time had a conversation about this Jesse E. Quantrill, he was a Dead beat and confidence man Mr. Quantrill informed me that he took the name of Elliott for his middle name unlawfully & for some reason he thought strange he also informed me Jesse E. went to Philadelphia and bought up Horses, stages &c. to start opposition lines of stages from Philadelphia & Baltimore against the great contractor Beeside that the Stage Co Bought him off at a Big Price He also informed me that he, Jesse E. went by the name of Doctor Hayne that he had been in about every Penitentiary in Penn., Maryland, Virginia & Kentucky and Perhaps Ohio. My impression was that he was a Bro or Cousin of the Mr. Thos Quantrill.     From letter of H. V. Beeson, Paola, Kansas, June 5, 1880, to W. W. Scott, now in the Collection of the author.

This account of Jesse D. Quantrill is taken from various sources, principally from articles in newspapers, the most important of which were published in the Philadelphia Times in 1884, in the New York Graphic, by "Gath" (George Alfred Townsend) in 1881, and in the Keokuk, Iowa, Gate City, August 17, 1882. There is much error and confusion in these and all other articles examined on the subject, most of them supposing Jessed D. Quantrill to have been the guerrilla, William C. Quantrill. '' Gath'' makes William C. Quantrill the son of Jesse D. But there is much that is true and accurately stated in them. The career of Jesse D. Quantrill as set out here may be relied upon as correct. By his first wife he had a son, named Lawrence Quantrill. 
   22        QUANTRILL AND THE BORDER WARS

found his way to Texas, where he was befriended by a brother Freemason named Imboden. He is credited with having been a dead shot, and with having killed thirty-eight men in one battle. It is asserted that he died in New Orleans of wounds, of which he received many. There is nothing positively known of this John Quantrill, and it is probable that he originated in the vague conjectures as to the identity of William C. Quantrill.

Archibald Quantill was a printer and was at one time a compositor on the National Intelligencer, Washington City. He must have been among the younger children of Captain Thomas Quantrill, for he married Miss Mary A. Sands, whose age is given as thirty-two in 1862. Mrs. Mary A. Quantrill was a staunch and loyal supporter of the Union during the Civil War. Her brother, George W. Sands, was a member of the Maryland Legislature and was U. S. collector of internal revenue under President Lincoln. In September, 1862, Stonewall Jackson parted from General Lee at Frederick, Maryland, on his way to besiege Harper's Ferry. As Jackson passed through Frederick Mrs. Quantrill and her daughter Virginia, afterwards Mrs. Perry Brown, were standing at their gate waving a number of flags     the Stars and Stripes. The soldiers angrily ordered them to throw down the flags, and a lieutenant, with his sword, cut a flag from the hands of Virginia Quantrill. But she continued to wave Old Glory, and it was again cut from her hands by the lieutenant's sword. Mrs. Quantrill then took up a large flag which she waved aloft until the army had passed through the town. Many of the Confederate officers and some of the soldiers applauded her, an officer saying with a salute and marked courtesy, "To you, madam, not to your flag." Archibald Quantrill was in Washington City at the time at work at his trade. For this brave and patriotic act these women have not had proper credit. Indeed, they have been robbed of the fame of the deed by a great poet, and a decrepit and bed-ridden lady of Frederick given the honor for something she did not do.5

5 This incident inspired the beautiful and patriotic poem of Whittier, entitled Barbara Frietehie. Barbara lived some distance from the line of march, and it is not probable that she saw any of the soldiers who marched through Frederick that day.   She was loyal and brave, it has been claimed, 
   THE QUANTRILL FAMILY

23

Thomas Henry Quantrill was born at Hagerstown, Md., February 19, 1813. He was a tinker by trade.6 He afterwards became a tinner.   He had relatives, the Heisers, living at Cham-

should accompany him as his wife, and they were married at

6 Statement of Mrs. Caroline Clarke Quantrill, his widow, published in the Chicago Herald, March 4, 1894.

There is some reason to believe that the name of Thomas Henry Quantrill was in fact Thomas Hart Quantrill, or that it had been at one time. In the family Bible it is written Thomas Henry, but the Quantrills seem to have been addicted to the habit of changing their names. His son, the guerrilla, assumed the name of Charley Hart in Kansas to conceal his identity, and it has been said that he used the name Hart because it had belonged to his father. He always went by the name of Charley Quantrill in Missouri. For the purposes of treachery he often pretended to be a Federal Captain Clarke, and he was known as Captain Clarke in Kentucky in the spring of 1865, and he gave that as his name at first when mortally wounded.

and would have waved her flag in the face of General Jackson himself if she had been given an opportunity. Her house is still standing, on the banks of Carroll creek, in Frederick. Whittier stated that he secured his information of this matter from Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth, the novelist.

There is now doubt as to the loyalty of Barbara Frietehie. Prof. E. Haworth, of the Kansas University, informs me that she was a staunch supporter of the Southern Confederacy. This information he had from her relatives.   The poem is as follows:

["This poem," says Mr. Whittier, "was written in strict conformity to the account of the incident as I had it from respectable and trustworthy

QuantriH's Father

bersburg, Pa., whom he visited, perhaps in the strolling vocation of tinker. With one of these he learned the tinner trade. While there he met Miss Caroline Cornelia Clarke (or Clark) and became engaged to marry her. Some relative had persuaded him that it would be to his advantage to settle at Canal Dover, Ohio, and he had determined to go there for that purpose in the fall of 1836. Several Hagerstown people were settling at Canal Dover about that time.   It was his wish that Miss Clarke

BABBABA FEIETCHIE 
   24        QUANTRILL AND THE BORDER WARS

Chambersburg, October 11, 1836. A little later he secured a contract to do some tin work in Canal Dover for Louis L. Lee, and as this work was to be done at once, the young people set out immediately. The contract was secured towards the latter part of November. They drove overland in their own buggy and arrived in December, stopping at first at the public house or tavern, where they remained but a short time, going to housekeeping in what was locally known as the "Tom West house" with S. Scott and wife.? This was a small one-story frame house near the corner of Factory and Fourth streets. It was afterwards in the Quantrill family, seemingly the property of Captain Thomas Quantrill,

7 Memo, made by W. W. Scott, now in the Collection of the author.

sources. It has since been the subject of a good deal of conflicting testimony, and the story was probably incorrect in some of its details. It is admitted by all that Barbara Frietchie was no myth, but a worthy and highly esteemed gentle-woman intensely loyal and a hater of the Slavery Bebellion, holding her Union flag sacred and keeping it with her Bible; that when the Confederates halted before her house, and entered her dooryard, she denounced them in vigorous language, shook her cane in their faces, and drove them out; and when General Burnside's troops followed close upon Jackson's, she waved her flag and cheered them. It is stated that May Quantrill, a brave and loyal lady in another part of the city, did wave her flag in sight of the Confederates. It is possible that there has been a blending of the two incidents."]

House, in Canal Dover, Onto, where Quantrill was born

Up from the meadows rich with corn, Clear in the cool September morn,

The clustered spires of Frederick stand Green-walled by the hills of Maryland.

Bound about them orchards sweep, Apple and peach tree fruited deep,

Fair as the garden of the Lord

To the eyes of the famished rebel horde,

On that pleasant morn of the early fall When