William Clark Quantrill

hi my name is kami Stanley and I am a tour guide and the social media coordinator at the Reeves Museum here in Dover Ohio thank you for joining us today as part of tusk Ross County museum's history-making collaboration today I am standing at the grave of William Clarke Quantrill whom some called the tear of the West for the bloodiest man in American history but how did he get these names William Clarke Quantrill was born July 31st 1837 to Thomas and Caroline Quantrill quantrell's father opened a tin shop shortly after moving to Dover in 1836 a year before Quantrill was born his father was a learned man in 18-49 he became the assistant principal of Union School which tossed all the grades in Dover a year later he was promoted to principal and a year after that in 1851 Thomas quantro became the second superintendent of Dover schools both of his parents kept busy his mother taking care of Quantrill and his siblings and his father with his commitments at the school being the oldest Quantrill was often asked to help care for his siblings but whenever he was able he would go off to the woods to practice target shooting it was said he was quite good stories began to develop a Quantrill in his cruelty to animals Dover was a farming town in the 1840s and 50s so most families had their share of animals it was said Quantrill would shoot pigs through their ear just to hear them squeal a neighbor at one time also lost their beloved cat they searched all night with no luck a few weeks later the neighbor found his cat hanging dead on a wall in the Quantrill family shed he accused Quantrill but Caroline Quantrill's mother denied that he could do such a thing Quantrill followed in his father's footsteps and became a teacher at Union school at the age of 17 shortly thereafter his father died in Quantrill was left as the sole provider for his family he left Union school for unknown reasons after only one term and went to Brandywine school at which he also stayed one term quantro was anxious to leave Dover even though the community was growing with the help from the canal which had a stop in Dover although his mother was poor with young children at home she encouraged Quantrill to find his way he moved to Illinois where he taught school for a term then he moved to Indiana where he again taught for a term in a letter to his mother dated February 21st 1856 Quantrill says I am now in Indiana near Fort Wayne teaching a school and a very good one I have I have from 35 to 40 scholars every day I have gotten a good neighborhood and they say I'm the best teacher they ever had I get $20 a month and boarded I took up school for three months and my time is half out now he continues on to say it was a mistake to leave home and that he plans to return he did return to Ohio but not Dover he went to York's felt to teach but when the opportunity to go to Kansas with two men from Dover came about he left his family and unpaid room and bored in your ex Vaughn Quantrill agreed to help these men farm their land in exchange for traveling companions once in Kansas Quantrill claimed his own small bit of land even though he wasn't 21 but he never intended to farm this land instead he sold it for $60 around this time the men Quantrill had traveled with were starting to feel that he wasn't holding up to his end of the agreement Quantrill felt trouble was coming so he left and found a home with another group of Dover i'ts who had come to Kansas former classmates of quantrell's the group lived in one cabin while building on other areas of the land they called their settlement Tuscarora Lake in honor of the county that they were all from in Ohio over time the settlers of Tuscarora Lake started noticing items that were missing blankets provisions clothing and a pistol these belongings were found with Quantrill things since he was a friend he was asked to leave and no legal action was taken quandra went to Fort Leavenworth in Kansas where he took a train to Fort Bridger in Utah he wrote this to his mother I'm again seated to write a few lines which I should have done some time ago but it was not in my power to do so any sooner on account of my having what is called Mountain fever a dangerous disease which debilitates a person very soon but once having broke the disease a person gains very rapidly the last two weeks I've had such an appetite as hardly could be satisfied but I'm careful not to eat too much I feel very well at the present the Mormons have treated me very well much better than I could have expected after their disturbance with what they called the Gentiles next week I'm going to clerk for the quartermaster in the army at $50 per month which is no more than 25 at home I'm so nervous that I cannot write where the sent I can't tell when I will be home I'm not coming home without some money I will take care of myself give my love to all there's no record of Quantrill pursuing the position of clerk he seems to have spent this time gambling during which he used the name Charlie Hart after trying his luck at the Pikes Peak Gold Rush which didn't go as he had hope Quantrill then headed back to Kansas he moved to Lawrence where he lived on a Delaware reservation posing as a spy for the Delaware he was actually finding opportunities for himself he became an anti-slavery agent but was playing both sides Quantrill would help arrange the escape of a slave from Missouri into Kansas and would then help the owner catch the runaway for a fee he wrote a one-sided case in this letter to his mother having doubted Lee heard of the wrongs committed in this territory by the southern people or pro-slavery party but when one once knows the facts they can easily see that it has been the opposite party that have been the main movers in the troubles and by far the most lawless set of people in the country they all sympathize for old J Brown who should have been hung years ago indeed hanging was too good for him may never see a more contemptible people than those who sympathize for him a murderer and a robber made a martyr of just think of it Quantrill then got involved with a group of border ruffians stealing kidnapping and horse stealing perhaps Quantrill sense that his crimes would eventually catch up to him and he would need to leave Kansas when he wrote this last letter to his mother I will here say that I will be home anyhow as soon as the first of September and probably sooner by that time I will be done with Kansas perhaps one of quantrell's worst acts pretending to be an abolitionist was the Morgan Walker raid the plan was Quantrill in his group would go to the Walker plantation in Kansas to free the slaves there it was the job of the three refugee slaves that were part of Quantrill's group to convince the walker slaves to run Quantrill's real plan was to sell the three men back into slavery he told the group that he was scouting the land and went ahead of them he went to Walker's house and warned Andrew Morgan Walker's son that the Kansas jayhawkers were coming to rob his father's house Quantrill and Andrew made their own plan the next day when Quantrill and his men got to the Morgan plantation quantro went into the house to get the walkers while he was inside his men were ambushed one was killed and two wounded before the group escaped the two injured men were later found hiding and murdered after this Quantrill had to forget being an abolitionist and fully support slavery he needed a story to explain his involvement in the Morgan Walker raid he said he and an older brother were going to California when they were attacked by Kansas jayhawkers who killed his brother and left him wounded an Indian found him and cared for him to get his revenge he said he joined the Kansas military organization many of the jayhawkers belong to he had killed all his attackers except the men who accompanied him on the raid and they would be killed on the counter-attack with Walker this is how he would get his revenge for his brother's death many felt this was a lie and wanted to hang Quantrill but Andrew Walker convinced them to let him go Quantrill left Kansas never to return on good terms until 1862 the guerrillas in Missouri had no leader Quantrill gained this position the group started by murdering looting and pillaging the outposts of Union soldiers this was done in the name of patriotism the name William Clarke Quantrill became a name to be feared in March of 1862 the federal government declared the group outlaws this meant they could expect to be shocked or hung if captured other outlaws join the group and they grew to numbers over 100 in June of 1862 along with regular Confederate troops they captured Independence Missouri a union stronghold Quantrill was made a captain in the Confederate Army and had over 150 men Jim and Cole Younger and Frank James joined quantrell's gang and a year later Jesse James joined Quantrill and his gang burned towns and stole and murdered anywhere with northern sympathizers Quantrill rode to Richmond Virginia to petition for Commission as a colonel it is unknown whether or not this was granted but he returned to Missouri claiming to be a colonel on August 21st 1863 William Clarke Quantrill most infamous act was to unfold Quantrill and his men were outside the town of Lawrence Kansas in the early morning when according to John McCorkle in his book three years with Quantrill Quantrill said boys this is the home of Jim Lane and Jennison remember that in hunting us they gave no quarter shoot every soldier you see but in no way harm a woman or child those in the town were robbed and almost all the buildings were burned to the ground the town was said to be unrecognizable and many families suffered as men were targeted Jim Lane and Charles Jennison the abolitionists who were being targeted both hid in a field and survived after the raid in Lawrence quantrell's Raiders as they had become known started to dwindle in numbers some believed this was because of Quantrill and his lack of leadership this may have been partially due to the death of his horse Charlie Quantrill got Charlie in Independence Missouri in 1861 Charlie was wild and only William could handle him after the Lawrence Massacre Charlie was being sued he fought hard and injured himself so badly he had to be put down after hearing about Charlie Quantrill said that means my work is done my career is run death is coming in my end is near while resting on a farm Quantrill and his men were attacked shot and severely injured Quantrell was taken to a military hospital in Louisville Kentucky William Clarke Quantrill died on June 6th 1865 54 days before his 28th birthday five days before his death Quantrill joined the Catholic Church worried about dying Quantrill gave his entire fortune eight hundred dollars to the priest he asked that part of this be used for his headstone and the rest given to Kate King his mistress for several years note that nothing was given to his mother Quantrill did not get a headstone the priest feared it would be desecrated so the money was given to Kate King it is said she used the money to set up a brothel in st. Louis quantrell's remains were buried in st. John's Cemetery in the Portland area of Louisville Kentucky 22 years later w w Scott newspaper editor and publisher of Dover's iron Valley reporter and a classmate and friend of Quantrill's accompanied quantrell's mother Caroline to Kansas to identify quantrell's remains she was able to positively identify his remains because of a tuft of blonde hair and a chipped tooth Caroline didn't want quantrell's bones returned to the grave in Kansas but returned to Dover Scott tricked the caretaker of the cemetery and smuggled the bones back to Dover but Dover city officials didn't want him the Grand Army of the Republic did not want him in a cemetery where Union veterans were buried it was agreed the grave would be unmarked and no announcement would be made a private burial with Caroline the minister Scott Charles klar and a cousin from Carrollton was held ww Scott secretly kept the skull shin bones and right arm bones and hid them at the newspaper office he was actually trying to sell the bones while Caroline was getting permission to bury her son Scott tried to sell the skull to the Kansas Historical Society but they weren't interested in 1888 Scott traveled to Kansas and gave the shin bones as a gift but again they used to buy the skull between 1888 and 1903 the bones stayed on the second floor of Scots print shop he planned to try to sell the bones again after Caroline's death as she was 18 years older than he was but in 1903 Scott died from a heart attack a few months before Caroline the skull ended up with the DJ s club fraternal organizations were very popular at the time and the DJ s club was started by boys 13 to 16 years old and was associated with the Alpha Pi fraternity the skull was used for the fraternity secret ceremony how did the fraternity get the skull members of the fraternity were friends with Scott's son and used to play outside the building where the skull was hidden for many years Scott's son had no interest in keeping the skull it stayed with the group until 1942 when the fraternity disbanded trustee Nelson Macmillan took the skull home and kept it in his cellar it was brought back out for a fiftieth anniversary banquet money was collected at this time for a future banquet interest in the group was lost so the 150 dollars collected for the next banquet and the skull were donated to the Dover Historical Society it remained there until it was buried in the 4th Street Cemetery in Dover Ohio before the burial of the skull the Dover Historical Society in conjunction with Kent State University made a mold of the skull this mold remains with the Dover Historical Society in the carriage house of the Reeves Museum to this day thank you for joining us today check back Monday through Friday as we share videos from the Dennison Depot railroad museum historic store village the tusk Ross County Convention and Visitors Bureau and the age of steam roundhouse museum as part of tusk rose County museum's history-making collaboration stay safe and we hope to see you soon at the region you

Channel: Reeves Museum

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Length: 15min 32sec (932 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 02 2020