Good Mourning Augusta! 10/8/19
"Was L.J. Crocker really William Clark Quantrill?"
By Rebecca Lane Boyles
Part 2
William Clark Quantrill was a member of the Confederate Army. He was commander of a troop of men known as "Quantrill's Raiders". These men were a "guerilla group" whose operations were centered in Missouri reaching into bordering states during the Civil War.
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in August of 1863, Union General Thomas Ewing Jr. arrested a number of female relations of Quantrill's men for "aiding the enemy". They were held in a make-shift jail in Kansas City, MO. On August 14, 1863 the building collapsed maining and killing some of the women held. This event would prove to be the catalyst that would lead Quantrill and his men to infamy.
On the morning of August 21, Quantrill with a force of 450 men raided and burned the town of Lawrence, Kansas - killing 150 mens and boys old enough to carry a gun and fight. By the time they rode out about 9am most of Lawrence was burning. Only two buildings were left standing.
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For this act of terrorism, abounty of $1000 was placed on Quantrill's life. He managed to escape capture until May 10, 1865 when he and a few of his men were caught in an ambush outside Louisville, Kentucky. He and one of his men were seriously wounded. Quantrill was shot in the hand and back. He was said to be paralyzed from the chest down. Quantrill died on June 8, 1865 and was buried in an unmarked grave.
So, if Quantrill died in 1865, how could he be Crocker in 1867?
Join us tomorrow for more of our story..