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Survivors of Quantrill’s raid at the semi-centennial memorial reunion, 1913, Lawrence.

176 HISTORY The 1913 Semi-Centennial Memorial Reunion of the Survivors of Quantrill’s Raid on Lawrence

by Richard B. Sheridan

illiam Clarke Quantrill at the head of some 450 mounted guerrillas entered Lawrence, Kansas, shortly after five o’clock on the morning of August 21, 1863, without the citizens having any prior warning. One eyewitness who was a guest at the Eldridge House called the wild scenes of the ensuing four hours “not a fight, not a murder, but the most terrible, cold blooded fiendish massacre ever heard of in this country.” Altogether an estimated two hundred men and boys were killed or later died of gun- shot wounds. It required a week’s labor to gather up and bury the dead. It was estimated that 1 Wthe married men who were killed left behind eighty widows and 250 fatherless children. Reverend , pastor of Plymouth Congregational Church and an eyewitness to the tragedy, said the loss of property had been variously estimated, some putting it as low as $750,000, and others as high as $2.5 million. He thought it could not fall below $1.5 million. Ap- proximately two hundred buildings were burned, including some seventy-five business hous- es on the main street. The Eldridge House was burned after the sixty-five guests were removed to another hotel and personally protected by Quantrill. Fifteen African American employees of the Eldridge were reported to have escaped the wrath of the by taking flight. The dwelling and business houses that were not burned were in most cases robbed, and women as well as men were robbed of their money, watches, and jewelry. Between four hundred and five hundred horses taken as fresh mounts were packed with valuable goods stolen from stores and

Richard B. Sheridan is professor emeritus in the department of economics at the . He has published several books and numerous articles on the history of slavery and plantation economies and society in the West Indies and . He earned his Ph.D. from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

For helpful comments and assistance in preparing this article the author thanks Pat Michaelis; Ted A. Kennedy; Jean Snedeger; Sheryl K. Williams; Audrey Sheridan; and the staff at the Kansas Collection, University of Kansas Libraries, Lawrence; Watkins Community Museum of History, Lawrence; and Kansas State Historical Society.

1. Richard Cordley, A History of Lawrence, Kansas (Lawrence, Kans.: Lawrence Journal Press, 1895), 238–54; William Elsey Con- nelley, Quantrill and the Border Wars (Cedar Rapids, Iowa: Torch Press, 1910), 298–421; Albert Castel, William Clarke Quantrill: His Life and Times (New York: Frederick Fell, 1962), 122–43; William C. Pollard Jr., Dark Friday: The Story of Quantrill’s Lawrence Raid (Big Springs, Kans.: Baranski Publishing Co., 1990), 29–81; Thomas Goodrich, Bloody Dawn: The Story of the (Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1991), 84–132; Richard B. Sheridan, “William Clarke Quantrill and the Lawrence Massacre: A Reader, Part II, Commentary” (manuscript, Library and Archives Division, Kansas State Historical Society).

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Quantrill’s 1863 raid on Lawrence was described by one eyewitness as “the most terrible, cold blooded fiendish massacre ever heard of in this country.” This sketch appeared in Harper’s Weekly, September 5, 1863. residences. No women are known to have been raped Kansas, on August 20–21, 1913. It will show that in or killed. Many housewives stood up boldly to the 1913 the human and material resources of Lawrence guerrillas and by ingenious means saved their men- were mobilized and that some two hundred of the folk and extinguished fires in their homes. Albert survivors gathered to celebrate their escape and to Castel, a leading authority on Quantrill and his bush- honor the memories of the citizens who fell during whackers, claimed that the Lawrence massacre was the raid. the most atrocious single event in the Civil War, and it gave Quantrill a reputation as “the bloodiest man fter the Civil War several developments fos- 2 in American history.” tered the growth of patriotism in Lawrence In the years following the Civil War the leaders of and gave rise to major ceremonial occasions. Lawrence and local war veterans created a fraternal In 1866 the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) was organization, built a new cemetery, and set aside a Afounded; it was a national society of Civil War veter- day in memory of the Civil War dead and the victims ans who served in the Union forces. According to of Quantrill’s massacre. Survivors of the massacre Charles M. Correll, the GAR was first joined other townspeople on Decoration Day on May 30 each year to decorate the graves of Union sol- a comradeship to preserve common memories, to diers and victims of the massacre. Beginning in 1891 care for the widows and orphans of soldiers and to promote all that could advance the spirit of patri- they organized an association of survivors of the otism in the community. . . . in the early 1890’s, massacre and from time to time held reunions to when the organization was at its peak, there were which the general public was invited. Furthermore, a somewhat less than 500 posts with a membership monument was erected and dedicated to the memo- of not much over 20,000, while it was estimated that the probable number of Union veterans with- ry of the citizens of Lawrence who fell victim to the 3 ferocity of the border guerrillas. This article will ex- in the borders of the state was some 100,000. plore the background to and execution of plans for the semi-centennial memorial reunion at Lawrence, Local posts of the GAR were urged to establish memorial halls for reading rooms and historical mu- 2. Richard Cordley, “The Lawrence Massacre,” Congregational Record 5 (September/October 1863): 98–115; Albert Castel, “The Bloodiest Man 3. Charles M. Correll, “Some Aspects of the History of the G.A.R. in in American History,” American Heritage 11 (October 1960): 22–24, 97–99. Kansas,” Kansas Historical Quarterly 19 (February 1951): 63–74.

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seums, and to ensure that patriotism was taught and of citizens killed in the Quantrill raid. Sidney Clarke, the national flag displayed in public schoolrooms. U.S. congressman from Kansas, delivered the ad- Decoration Day (later known as Memorial Day) was dress, in part of which he said: founded in 1868 as an annual national holiday and Nearly all the professions and employments in life major ceremonial occasion on May 30 for the purpose furnished victims for this common grave. The ed- of decorating the graves of soldiers who had died in ucated and uneducated; native and foreign born; defense of their country during the Civil War. Anoth- the white and the black, will sleep here side by er development was purchasing and laying out Oak side till the morning of the resurrection shall iden- Hill Cemetery. It was acquired in the form of unim- tify them for the great hereafter. . . . proved farmland by a committee of the city council in We must live together in the future as one peo- ple, proud alike of a common heritage, and equal- 1865 and became the principal burial ground in ly interested in the name and fame of a nation Lawrence. The Lawrence Republican Daily Journal of which presents the world with the most wonder- April l6, 1873, noted that “the refinement and culture ful civilization of modern times. of a community” could be judged by “the respect paid to the resting places of its dead.” Lawrence was After the congressman’s lengthy address, young ladies wearing white dresses decorated the graves with floral said to rank high in this respect: “It is seldom that a 6 more naturally attractive spot is selected for a ceme- offerings that were said to be quite beautiful. tery than the inclosure now known as Oak Hill, and Prior to 1891 the survivors of Quantrill’s raid we are glad to see that the gentlemen in charge of the were reported to have met informally every August grounds are adding to this naturally beautiful site the 21 to recall the events of that fatal day. A general ob- 4 aids of art.” servance of the raid anniversary probably was not On May 11, 1870, a meeting of Lawrence citizens considered necessary because formal ceremonies had was held at the council chambers to arrange for the been held annually on Memorial Day and Indepen- due observance of Decoration Day, the new national dence Day. Some of the survivors feared that the pro- festival. After a report from a previously appointed ceedings of a public reunion would degenerate into a committee, several resolutions were adopted. The conflict between those who would revive old griev- first requested the mayor “to invite the citizens of ances against the Missourians and others who were Lawrence to consecrate Monday, May 30th, to the inclined toward conciliation. Moreover, to have de- memory of our patriot dead.” It was also resolved clared a holiday on August 21 would have interfered that a committee be appointed “to arrange for the with the county’s agricultural and the town’s busi- decoration on that day of the graves in and near ness activities. The local newspaper editor suggested Lawrence of Union soldiers and of our citizens who a compromise when he wrote on August 21, 1886, “Business men may well stop a moment to consider were the victims of the Quantrell massacre, and for 7 5 an appropriate public ceremonial.” the terrible events of twenty-three years ago.” At the community-wide celebration of Decora- Readers of the Lawrence Daily Journal on August tion Day in 1875, the crowd at Oak Hill Cemetery 20, 1891, noted in the section headed “City News in proceeded from the graves of Union soldiers to those Brief” that “The reunion of those who escaped Quantrell’s men will be of interest to the general pub- 4. Republican Daily Journal (Lawrence), April l6, 1873; B. Jean lic and everyone is invited to come and enjoy good Snedeger, ed. and comp., Complete Tombstone Census of Douglas County, Kansas, 2 vols. (Lawrence, Kans.: 1987), 1:6a–6d; Cathy Ambler, “Oak Hill speeches, music, plenty of ice water and comfortable Cemetery and the Rural Cemetery Movement,” (1990), 49–59, 62–75, pri- seats, at the park tomorrow night.” It was not the vate collection of Cathy Ambler, Lawrence, Kans.; Ambler, “A Place Not Entirely of Sadness and Gloom: Oak Hill Cemetery and the Rural Ceme- purpose of the reunion to teach vengeance upon tery Movement,” Kansas History: A Journal of the Central Plains 15 (Winter those who were responsible for it, insisted the Daily 1992–1993): 240–53. 5. Republican Daily Journal, May 12, 1870. Note that most sources well into the twentieth century spelled the name “Quantrell” rather than 6. Ibid., June 1, 1875. “Quantrill.” 7. Ibid., August 21, 1886.

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Journal, “but that the young generation should learn DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF THE of the patriotism that actuated those who saved ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY CITIZENS Kansas from the invaders and made it, by their hero- WHO DEFENCELESS FELL VICTIMS TO ism, what it is today.” Another purpose was “to THE INHUMAN FEROCITY OF BORDER arrange for a permanent organization of the sur- GUERRILLAS LED BY THE INFAMOUS vivors. . . . There is much work that should be done QUANTRELL IN HIS RAID UPON LAW- that no one but the survivors can do, and they can do RENCE. AUGUST 21ST, 1863. ERECTED it only through united effort.” Two days later, at a MAY 30TH, 1895. meeting in South Park, it was resolved that the sur- vivors organize the “Association of Survivors of The Citizens Memorial Monument was erected by the Quantrell’s Massacre, of the Citizens of Lawrence, people of Lawrence and friends living elsewhere who Douglas county, Kansas, August 21, 1863, and that numbered about 150 and contributed a total of fifteen 10 the officers of the said association shall consist of a hundred dollars, the cost of the monument. president, three vice-presidents, secretary, corre- sponding secretary, treasurer and an executive com- lthough local survivors of the raid and mas- 8 mittee of five.” sacre gathered to hold memorial services On Sunday, August 21, 1892, the survivors of the every August 21, it was not until 1913, the raid held their annual meeting in South Park. A very semi-centennial or fiftieth anniversary of the tragedy, large crowd gathered there to listen to interesting Athat both a memorial and a reunion were conducted. speeches. An article in a local newspaper noted that The first public announcement that leaders of the the survivors were fewer than the previous year and community were considering such a memorial and the ranks were growing thinner. He expressed hope reunion appeared in a lead article in the Lawrence that until the last survivor was gone the organization Daily Journal-World on May 17, 1913. It told of a sug- would be kept alive and that coming generations gestion that the survivors who lived elsewhere be in- would learn from these survivors what it cost to vited to return for a week, during which time 9 make Kansas free. Lawrence citizens would act as hosts to the “older On May 30, 1894, the survivors and others who members of the family” in an “old home week.” Con- were interested met at the courthouse, organized the tinuing, the article said: Lawrence Monument Association, and appointed a The twenty-first of August is a date which committee to make arrangements for building and Lawrence people can never forget. Heretofore the erecting a monument. The committee proceeded to day has been remembered in Lawrence by the old solicit funds, secure the monument, and have it erect- settlers who recalled the events of that day, but ed and dedicated. On Memorial Day 1895 the people there has never been a general observance of the of Lawrence and Douglas County turned out in great day. Lawrence people never felt that it was a gala numbers. “In the morning the G.A.R. and its kindred occasion. It was the saddest date in the history of the city. But Lawrence has grown into a city now societies decorated the graves of the dead in both and the growth began immediately after the cemeteries [Pioneer and Oak Hill].” The afternoon Quantrell Raid. It is urged that this is a befitting was devoted to the procession to Oak Hill cemetery date on which to celebrate this growth. for the dedication and unveiling of the monument that was erected near the graves of numerous victims The article closed by informing readers that the 11 of the massacre. The beautiful memorial is made of movement would soon be taken up in earnest. Vermont granite, eight by four feet at the base and eight feet seven inches high, bearing the inscription: 10. Ibid., May 29, 30, 1895; Topeka Daily Capital, May 31, 1895. 11. Lawrence Daily Journal-World, May 17, 1913; David Dary, Lawrence 8. Lawrence Daily Journal, August 20, 22, 24, 1891. Douglas County, Kansas: An Informal History (Lawrence, Kans.: Allen Press, 9. Ibid., August 22, 1892. 1982), 252–58.

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Eleven days after the was published in the Journal- above article appeared a World on June 9. The public meeting of Lawrence citi- was asked to read the list zens was convened. Fifteen carefully and report at once (later seventeen) town lead- the names and addresses of ers were selected to plan any other survivors who and head the Quantrill raid could be reached with an in- victims semi-centennial me- vitation. At the planning morial reunion. One-third of meeting on July 30 it was an- the members of the commit- nounced that more than five tee were to be women who hundred names were on the survived the massacre. Col- list and others were expect- onel John K. Rankin was ed to be added before the 14 elected chairman and Clar- day of the memorial. ence S. Hall secretary. The On the anniversary of committee was instructed to the massacre, the Journal- ask every organization in World commented on the the city to cooperate in fur- large number of survivors: thering plans for the memo- On May 30, 1870, Lawrence citizens observed Decoration Day, a Fifty years is a long time rial. A short editorial in the new national holiday, by honoring their Union soldiers who died during the Civil War and the victims of Quantrill’s massacre. and it is surprising that so Journal-World said the com- many survivors remain. mittee of seventeen had The town had a population been appointed to arrange a fitting memorial for the of about 2,500 at the time of the raid and there are victims of Quantrill’s massacre. A major task was “to fully 500 survivors. It all argues that a race of find the names of the survivors no matter where they brave men came to Kansas to make it a free state. 12 They were men of courage and good conduct and may be living and have them here on August 21.” they have remained with us long. At the meeting of the committee of seventeen on June 6, a subcommittee of five was named to draw up A minor reason for the large number of survivors may a tentative program for the memorial. Besides the pro- be that the group included men who were permanent gram subcommittee, other subcommittees were ap- residents but who were away on military service and 15 pointed at the meeting of June 13: historical, finance, buying trips for local stores on the day of the raid. entertainment, permanent memorial, invitation, and During the memorial reunion the Journal-World publicity. Each chairperson was given authority to se- published a supplement entitled Lawrence: Today and lect other members of his or her subcommittee. These Yesterday. Part of this supplement is devoted to the members were reported at the July 20 meeting, at history of the massacre and the reunion, of which two which time the committee of seventeen was said to be pages contain the names and addresses of the 546 sur- delighted to have the presence of George W. Martin, vivors of the massacre. This list is headed: “Men and secretary of the Kansas State Historical Society, who Women, Boys and Girls [Who] Survived the Lawrence 13 approved of the general plan of the memorial. Massacre. This List Shows Those Living on Aug. 21, 16 Mary Clark was in charge of collecting the names 1913.” Table 1 summarizes the geographical residen- and addresses of survivors. She was said to have a natural aptitude for this and worked with great care 14. Ibid., June 9, 14, 21, July 9, 31, 1913. 15. Ibid., August 21, 1913. and thoroughness. An incomplete list of survivors 16. Lawrence: Today and Yesterday. Published by the Lawrence Daily Jour- nal-World as a Magazine and Souvenir Edition, Commemorating the Semi-Cen- 12. Lawrence Daily Journal-World, May 28, June 9, 1913. tennial Memorial of the Lawrence Massacre (Lawrence, Kans.: December 23, 13. Ibid., June 7, 14, 21, 1913. 1913), 127–28.

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tial pattern of the sur- enteen instructed Mary vivors. Clark to request letters Table 1 shows that a from the survivors “re- little more than half of counting their experi- all survivors lived in ences of that dreadful Lawrence and Douglas day. It is desirable that County in 1913, one- each one in this list will eighth in other parts of at once write to the com- Kansas, and two-thirds mittee an account of his in Kansas as a whole. experiences of that day” Three states adjacent to and send them as soon Kansas—, Ok- as possible. Approxi- lahoma, and Colorado— mately one hundred of in the aggregate ac- these letters are pre- counted for nearly 15 served in the Kansas In 1895 this monument, dedicated to the memory of the victims of the percent of all survivors, 1863 raid, was unveiled in Oak Hill Cemetery, Lawrence. State Historical Society. and the three Pacific These recollections are Coast states of California, Oregon, and Washington of great value to historians, supplying narratives of 17 for 8 percent. Ten survivors each lived in New Mexi- the survivors’ wide range of experiences. co and Illinois, and seven in New York. Table 1 does not show the states and territories of residence of mong other problems encountered by the re- thirty survivors. These are summarized as follows: union committee, securing a speaker of three survivors each lived in Iowa, Texas, and Indi- prominence to make the principal address ana; two each in Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Wisconsin, was no easy task. The first to be invited was Bishop and Washington, D.C.; and one each in Arkansas, AWilliam Lawrence of the Congregational Church. He Montana, Ohio, New Hampshire, Utah, Nebraska, was the son of Amos Lawrence, treasurer of the New South Dakota, Idaho, Maine, Florida, New Jersey, England Emigrant Aid Company and a wealthy in- Connecticut, and Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands. Of the dustrialist for whom the town of Lawrence was 182 survivors living outside the state of Kansas in named. Bishop Lawrence, who was thirteen years old 1913, 100 were living in the states and territories to when the massacre occurred, retained a distinct rec- the south and west of Kansas. Kansas City accounted ollection of the shock that this terrible tragedy caused for the greater part of those living in Missouri. It is in- in New England. When Bishop Lawrence wrote re- teresting that of the 140 survivors who were living gretting that prior commitments made it impossible outside of Kansas and Missouri, 102 lived in states to accept the invitation, the committee invited Homer and territories west of Missouri, and the remaining 38 Hoch, former governor of Kansas, who was in great lived east of this line. Thus, the residential pattern demand as an orator. He too declined, and Charles S. was one in which westerners predominated. Gleed, who had taken a prominent part in Kansas af- Other than a partial list, data are lacking for the fairs for many years, accepted the invitation to deliv- 18 survivors who attended the reunion in 1913. News- er the memorial address. paper accounts place the numbers present as ranging from four hundred to five hundred, but no exact total or geographical breakdown of those in attendance 17. Lawrence Daily Journal-World, July 9, 1913. The recollections writ- ten by survivors of the Lawrence massacre at the time of the semi-cen- has been discovered. tennial memorial reunion are in “Recollections of Quantrill Raid,” collec- Besides compiling a list of survivors and mailing tion 159, boxes 1 and 2, Library and Archives Division, Kansas State Historical Society. them invitations to the reunion, the committee of sev- 18. Lawrence Daily Journal-World, June 14, 21, July 19, 1913.

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At a committee meeting on July 18, instructions delegation, the mayor of that town should be invited were given the subcommittee chairpersons to com- to make a short speech or provide someone to do it. plete their parts of the program and report to the en- The scarcity of flowers was not expected to interfere tire committee as soon as possible. Two weeks later with decorating the monument in the cemetery since Mrs. Paul R. Brooks was appointed chairperson of the a large wreath would be provided. Badges and pro- subcommittee to take charge of decorating all graves grams were being printed and would be ready in of the raid victims. E. Otis Perkins was named chair- time. Headquarters for the survivors were to be person of the subcommittee to provide conveyances maintained in the opera house lobby, and all visitors to the Oak Hill Cemetery for the survivors and dis- were to be escorted by the entertainment subcommit- tinguished visitors on the anniversary day. According tee, of which Mrs. H.B. Asher was chairperson. Mrs. to the Journal-World, “The local autoists are expected S.D. Alford reported at the same meeting “that she to donate their cars for a short time on this morning had obtained a list of about forty buildings in 19 so that the visitors can be properly taken care of.” Lawrence that are now standing, that escaped the An article headed “All in Readiness for the flames that followed the massacre.” She said that the Memorial” summarized the committee’s proceedings list had been placed in the hands of Dr. Edward Bum- on the night of August 15 at the city library. It was de- gardner, a local historian, for revision and to arrange 20 cided to hold all meetings downtown in the Bower- to mark these buildings. sock Opera House. This included the evening meet- The opening meeting of the semi-centennial ing on August 20. It was announced that because memorial reunion was held at the Bowersock Opera Leavenworth had accepted an invitation to send a House on Wednesday evening, August 20, 1913. More than 200 of the nearly 550 living survivors of the Table 1 Lawrence massacre were in attendance. Colonel John GEOGRAPHICAL RESIDENTIAL PATTERN FOR THE K. Rankin, chairman of the reunion committee, pre- SURVIVORS OF THE QUANTRILL RAID AT THE TIME OF THE sided. He and his cousin had been in Lawrence at the FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY REUNION, time of the massacre and shot at some of the guerril- LAWRENCE, KANSAS, AUGUST 21, 1913 las. He also led a party of Lawrence men under the Living in Lawrence and Douglas County 296 (54.2%) command of Senator James H. Lane in pursuit of the Living in Other Parts of Kansas 68 (12.5%) guerrilla band after they departed the burning town. Total Living in Kansas 364 (66.7%) Rankin opened the meeting with the following words: Living in Other States and Territories Missouri 42 Ladies and Gentlemen: I want to pay a particular California 27 tribute to those of our citizens who passed away in Oklahoma 20 the massacre of fifty years ago. Who were they? Colorado 19 They were the cream of the immigration which New Mexico 10 came West at that time to make the country a free Illinois 10 country—young, energetic, capable men and Washington 9 women. They were the men and the women who Oregon 8 made this country what it is, who made this town New York 7 and this state what it is, and to whom we owe a Other 30 182 (33.3%) debt of gratitude that can never be repaid.

Total Survivors Living in the 546 (100.0%) Following the chairman’s opening remarks came United States and Hawaii short addresses of various incidents of the raid by

Source: Lawrence: Today and Yesterday, Supplement to the Lawrence Daily Judge Samuel A. Riggs, Mrs. S.D. Alford, Mrs. H.B. Journal-World (Lawrence, Kans.: 1913), 127–28. Asher, Henry Albach, Gurdon Grovenor, and others.

19. Ibid., August 2, 1913. 20. Ibid., August 16, 1913.

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The Journal-World reported that many interesting sto- ercises of the day. The people of Lawrence felt that ries were told: this sister city should be shown special favor because of its aid given Lawrence. A long article in the Leav- many a story of narrow escape, of terror and mur- enworth Times detailed the aid measures that had der and destruction. These people were here on that day, they saw the guerrillas sweep the city, been forthcoming. When Mayor Daniel Anthony had they saw it afterward, a heap of cinders and ashes learned that the drug stores in Lawrence had been with the bodies of their relatives and friends and destroyed, he had made arrangements for several neighbors strewn about the streets where they had doctors to start for the stricken town with various been shot down. To them the occasion last night medicines. On the night of August 21, Mayor Antho- was long to be remembered, they saw persons ny had called a public meeting to raise money for the there whom they had not seen for years and it made their hearts glad and their spirits lighter relief of Lawrence. On the following day the Leaven- than they had been for some time. worth newspaper had published a list of the sub- scribers to the relief fund, which amounted to more That evening the audience was asked to sing “The than ten thousand dollars in one day. Continuing, the 21 Star Spangled Banner” and “Home Sweet Home.” newspaper had reported that “Not only did Leaven- worth send money, coffins and resolutions of condo- n Thursday morning, the anniversary day, lence to her sister city but many of her citizens upon groups of Lawrence people who had been first word of the massacre mounted horses and hur- planning the memorial set out to accomplish ried to the aid of the stricken city.” The 1913 delega- their tasks. One group went early to the cemetery to tion consisted of twelve Leavenworth citizens, sever- mark and decorate all the known graves of massacre al of whom had come to the aid of Lawrence on the O 23 victims and the monument in their honor. The recep- morning after the massacre. tion committee at the opera house supplied badges The chief event on the morning of August 21 was and programs to survivors who had arrived late the the service in Oak Hill Cemetery honoring the mas- previous night or in the morning. Motor cars awaited sacre victims. Automobiles loaned by citizens of the visitors at the opera house to carry them to Oak Lawrence conveyed a hundred or more survivors to Hill Cemetery. Another group, also in automobiles, the cemetery east of the city. Reverend O.C. Brown, covered the city placing placards on all buildings that pastor of the First Baptist Church, delivered a short had been standing at the time of the raid. The news- address appropriate to the occasion. A song also was paper listed the addresses and owners at the time of sung by the audience in the cemetery. “Gathered the raid of ninety-two buildings where placards were about the big granite monument erected in memory posted. “It was rather a surprise to find so many old of those slain on that day, the survivors with damp buildings about the city that withstood the ravages of eyes paid tribute to the dead whose bones reposed that day and have remained here fifty years longer,” beneath their feet,” wrote the Topeka Daily Capital re- said the Journal-World. A special marker was posted porter. Most of the victims had been buried the day at the home of Edward Bumgardner at 724 Vermont following the tragedy in what was later called Pio- Street. This building, which had been the Methodist neer Cemetery and is now part of the west campus of church, was converted into a temporary hospital and the University of Kansas. There a great trench was ex- 22 morgue on the day of the massacre. cavated and the bodies of many unidentified persons Another group, including Mayor E.U. Bond, went were laid side by side, some with and many without across the bridge to the Union Pacific Railway depot coffins. Later, however, all but a few of the bodies of to welcome members of a delegation from Leaven- the victims were moved to Oak Hill Cemetery for worth who had been invited to participate in the ex- final interment. The Journal-World reported that a list

21. Ibid., August 20, 21, 1913; Topeka Daily Capital, August 21, 1913. 23. Leavenworth Times, August 20, 23, 1913; Lawrence Daily Journal- 22. Lawrence Daily Journal-World, August 20, 21, 22, 1913. World, August 20, 21, 1913.

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of the killed had been forgotten the sorrows of 25 compiled containing the fifty years earlier. names of 143 victims, but Presiding at the after- that the estimates were as noon meeting was Judge 24 high as 185. Samuel Bishop, former The principal and mayor of Lawrence and a final meeting of the survivor of the massacre. memorial reunion was After the audience sang a held at the Bowersock patriotic song, he intro- Opera House on the af- duced Charles Sumner ternoon of August 21. Gleed, the speaker of the According to the Topeka day, whose memorial ad- Daily Capital, four hun- dress was entitled “The dred or five hundred had Lawrence Massacre and been present in or near its Lessons.” Gleed was Lawrence at the time of born in Vermont in 1856 the massacre. “The build- and came to Kansas after ing was filled with citi- the Civil War. He was a zens and with visitors student at the University from far away coun- of Kansas from 1876 to tries,” reported the Jour- 1880, was admitted to the nal-World. Furthermore, bar in 1884, and there- this local paper noted: after had a distinguished Lawrence: Today and Yesterday devoted this page to the committee of career as a business exec- Many a survivor of the town leaders who organized the semi-centennial memorial reunion. utive and trustee of the raid had come hun- 26 dreds of miles to be in Lawrence once again, to be University of Kansas. here and see the town which fifty years ago he Gleed traced the history of Lawrence and its early watched burn. Some of them were only children settlers. They came not only from New England but then and but faintly remember the day but others also Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Germany, and saw it all and can never forget that picture of crime other parts of Europe and North America. These peo- and suffering. But for all it was a memorable occa- sion here today and the Memorial was in every ple believed in the dignity of labor, he said; they were way a great success. humanitarians who were, almost without exception, hostile to the institution of slavery. He spoke in a con- To the editor of the Lawrence Daily Gazette, the meet- ciliatory manner regarding the traditional South, ing at the opera house was one of the most unusual pointing out that slavery in the United States was not gatherings ever in Lawrence. Men and women came the invention of the Southern states. Instead, it was together to talk over one of the most painful periods brought to the New World by European slave traders. of their lives, a time of widespread disaster and con- Neither was the peculiar institution upheld by such ditions of which the younger generation had no first- great statesmen of the South as George Washington, hand knowledge. Although friendly greetings and Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, James Madison, cheerful conversations were abundant, still through- Thomas Hart Benton, and hundreds of other national out the whole proceedings a note of sadness showed leaders. But the truly great men of the South, he de- plainly on the aged men and women who had never 25. Topeka Daily Capital, August 22, 1913; Lawrence Daily Journal- 24. Lawrence Daily Journal-World, August 21, 1913; Topeka Daily Capi- World, August 21, 22, 1913; Daily Gazette (Lawrence), August 22, 1913. tal, August 21, 22, 1913; Leavenworth Times, August 23, 1913. 26. Lawrence Daily Journal-World, August 21, 1913.

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clared, were ultimately ig- regretted the Lawrence mur- 27 nored by the majority who ders,” according to Gleed. pursued a course of “reckless Gleed next asked, “What and unmoral commercialism” was done that day in Law- that grafted slavery on the rence?” He answered that South and led to the Civil War. only the historian could tell After recounting the trou- with any completeness, but bled and violent history of ter- that nearly two hundred men ritorial Kansas, Gleed asked, and boys had been murdered. “Who and what were the But he used the word “mur- raiders who came to Law- dered” advisedly, since war rence to murder and destroy?” had no sanction for killing He answered that Quantrill noncombatants. and his guerrillas “were tech- nically Confederate soldiers, In his memorial address Charles Sumner Gleed eulogized There was none to resist and the martyrs of the Lawrence massacre. practically nobody resisted. . . . but they received no orders, Two hundred men were mur- made no reports, and were in every way as irrespon- dered because they could not resist. They had sible as when they were stealing horses and cattle nothing with which to resist. Their political lead- and Negroes on their own account.” ers were all present, but they had no military lead- Focusing on , Gleed made it ers. General Lane was in the Senate, but happened clear that he found no redeeming qualities in the to be at home. He ran to the country and gathered a small body of farmers with arms returning when guerrilla leader. Quantrill was described as “a thin, no help could be rendered. Governor Robinson cold, bloodless man with great personal vanity, jeal- was on Mt. Oread where he could see the burning ous of all who dared to try to divide the spot-light city, but he was powerless to help. . . . Such utter with him, cruel and relentless in all his methods.” helplessness in time of war can scarcely be com- Having begun his outlaw career as a petty thief, he prehended. had degenerated into “a great dry-land pirate with plunder his object and murder his pastime.” leed then addressed “the story of that day’s Although Quantrill had no redeeming qualities in work,” noting that this “must be had of the Gleed’s opinion, his men were said to have had historian,” but he gave his listeners “sugges- “many grades of criminality.” Some of these men said tions of what happened” to a number of victims: that because Kansas and Red Legs had GAs an opening episode, the Rev. S.S. Snyder of committed atrocities in Missouri, they were justified the United Brethren Church, at work on his in seeking revenge at Lawrence for personal losses or premises was riddled with bullets. grievances. We know today that Gleed was wrong to Seventeen young recruits of the Fourteenth dismiss all the charges by the Missourians, however Kansas [Cavalry], without arms or uniform, were right he was to assert the uniquely destructive and vi- shot to death. cious nature of the Lawrence massacre. While most of R.C. Dix and many others at the Johnson Hotel, were promised safety if they would come Quantrill’s gang were described as “thoroughly bad out. They came out and were murdered. men, criminals by instinct, by training,” a few of George W. Bell, County Clerk, with a friend, them “made some efforts on occasion to prevent mur- took refuge in the rafters of an unfinished house. der and there were others who declined to do any One of the murderers began shooting at them. Bell murdering themselves.” Another group that came to recognized him as a man he had entertained at his Lawrence “were almost innocent followers, who af- home, and begged for his life, or at least that of his terwards became good citizens. All these have always 27. Ibid.

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friend. They were promised immunity, but were building. He begged to be moved, but was shot to shot as they came down. death. Mayor Collamore and an employee were dri- Robert Speer [age seventeen and brother of ven into the well on their premises where they John Speer Jr.] and his companion were sleeping in died. A friend, Captain J.G. Lowe, entered the well the printing office, and were murdered. to try to save the life of the mayor, and he died. Young Collamore, son of the Mayor, was shot Levi Gates was shot and horribly mutilated. and left on the road. [He recovered.] Dr. J.F. Griswold, S.M. Thorp, J.C. Trask and John Bergen and six other prisoners were shot. Harlow W. Baker were induced to leave the Dr. All were killed except Bergen, who was left for Griswold’s home on assurance that they would dead, but recovered. merely be taken prisoners. They were promptly Robin Martin, twelve years of age, was shot as shot. Griswold, Thorp and Trask were killed. he ran from his home. Baker was shot five times, but pretending to be Two negro preachers, Stonestreet and Old- dead, was left still alive and finally recovered. ham, were murdered, the latter in the presence of Edward P. Fitch was called to his door and his daughter. shot and burned with his home. Judge Louis Carpenter was pursued through D.W. Palmer was wounded and left in his his house and mortally wounded. His wife and store to burn. sister [sic—sister-in-law] threw themselves on his James Perine and James Eldridge were clerks. prostrate body, but were thrust aside enough to After they had given the raiders all that was valu- permit the final shots. able in the store where they slept, they were shot Mr. Young was shot and burned, but lived. and burned. The last man killed, like the first, was a Mr. Burt delivered his pocket book and re- preacher—Mr. Rothrock of the Dunkard denomi- ceived a bullet. nation [sic—he was wounded and recovered]. Mr. Murphy handed one raider a drink of water and was repaid by instant death. Gleed concluded this part of his address by saying Mr. Ellis, a blacksmith, ran into a patch of corn that the full story of the massacre as written by with his child. A raider left him dead with the child in his arms. William Elsey Connelley “fills the reader with horror. I would not if I could recite it all here. Such is not our Mr. Albach was ill in bed. He was carried out 28 of his house by his family and was shot by the object at this hour.” raiders. In the closing paragraph of his masterful and elo- G.H. Sargent and Charles Palmer were shot. quent address, Gleed eulogized the martyrs of the Sargent was not instantly killed. His wife fell upon massacre: his prostrate body. A murderer placed his pistol over her shoulder and sent a bullet into her hus- We cannot forget those who died and those who band’s head. suffered; those who fell in the hour of attack and Mr. Thornton was shot five times and then those who survived, broken in health or in heart; beaten over the head, but lived many years in a those whose life’s hopes and plans were cruelly frightfully crippled condition, never knowing blasted, blasted forever; those who were, in one freedom from pain. way or another, martyrs to the cause of freedom Mr. Langley was pursued about his home and and equality in the founding of our great state. For shot a dozen times. every one of them there must be glorious reward. John and William Laurie were murdered each In God’s great economy there is no loss. Every begging for the life of the other. William Laurie’s drop of blood spilled that day nourished the flow- wife was present. One murderer said to Mrs. Lau- ers of liberty. Every cry of anguish reached the rie: “We are fiends from Hell. Get into the house or heart of civilization and brought help against op- we will serve you the same way.” pression. Every golden thread of love and friend- George Holt and J.L. Crane were butchered in ship, that day broken, was not broken, was not their shoe store. John Speer, Junior, seventeen [sic—nineteen] years old, was wounded and fell near a burning 28. Ibid.

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broken in vain, for God saw. The day of restoration lished, Quantrill would have attained such a place in and requital will come, and when that eternal day the minds of Missourians that it would have been dif- has dawned, joy, God given, unspeakable joy, will 29 ficult for the truth to prevail. Instead, Connelley have come with the morning. claimed that his book was “as a flood of light poured Following Gleed, an address was delivered by into an area of darkness.” William Connelley, a leading historian of Kansas and the West. Connelley had a varied career as a school- From a hero who had been wronged here in Lawrence, Quantrell stood forth a marauder and a teacher, civil servant, businessman, manuscript and murderer. Instead of being an injured individual in book collector, and author. In 1912 he was elected Kansas, the truth made Quantrell, the kidnapper president of the Kansas State Historical Society and of free negroes, the stealer of cattle, a horsethief, an two years later secretary and director, serving the So- incendiary fleeing from justice. He left Kansas ciety in the latter capacity until his death in 1930. fearing the heavy hand of the law for many Among Connelley’s numerous books, his Quantrill crimes. And in leaving he plotted to murder, and did murder in the most treacherous manner, a and the Border Wars, first published in 1909 and twice 30 number of Kansas Anti-Slavery men whom he in- reprinted, has been the most influential. duced in their zeal to cross the border in search of Connelley was not a modest man when the im- passengers for the Underground Railroad. pact of his book about Quantrill was in question. He said he had no doubt that his labors had helped to re- The story of Quantrill was then emerging into the vive public awareness of the tragedy of the people true light in Missouri, said Connelley. He called at- that the memorial reunion was honoring. When Con- tention to a report in the Kansas City Star that no more nelley began his investigation, he said there was little reunions of the survivors of Quantrill’s guerrilla reliable information concerning Quantrill’s life and band would be held “to celebrate the sacking of times. Although some accounts were based on truth, Lawrence.” Instead, the Quantrill organization was he contended, they usually were distorted or exag- to be merged with that of Upton Hays, who was de- gerated. “The only event of which there was a fair ac- scribed as a less bloody and ferocious guerrilla. “It is count was the Lawrence massacre, and of it the pre- now beginning to be realized in Missouri that liminary movements were little known.” Since many Quantrell brought fire and sword to Jackson County,” 32 Kansans and Missourians believed the falsehoods Connelley declared. Quantrill told, Connelley contended it was “necessary As did Charles S. Gleed, Connelley ended his ad- to the truth of history that some reliable and accurate dress by praising Lawrence in its days of adversity account of Quantrell be published.” Quantrill “was and heroism in words both meaningful and eloquent: rapidly becoming a hero in Missouri where he was re- garded as one who had been driven out of Kansas be- Lawrence stood as a rock about which beat for cause he sympathized with the South.” Connelley ten years the rage of border-Ruffianism—the stronghold of liberty against which rolled those feared that if the truth were not told, Quantrill would 31 barbarous hordes that crossed our borders to force be venerated as a martyr by many Missourians. upon us human slavery. She led in the Kansas con- Connelley said that Quantrill had spread abroad flict. When Kansas won, the death knell of slavery falsehoods regarding his treatment by Kansans so in the nation was sounded. When Quantrell and that he might accomplish “his base and cynical pur- his murderous guerrillas turned from this devas- poses.” He believed that had his book not been pub- tated town the Confederacy was waning and the end of the war could be seen. . . . Lawrence made a glorious stand in those days. 29. Ibid. The fame of that conflict will grow as the impor- 30. Ibid., August 22, 1913. For a biographical sketch of William E. tance of it is realized. Connelley, see Frank W. Blackmar, ed., Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State Histo- ry, 2 vols. (: Standard Publishing Co., 1912), 1:404–5. 31. Lawrence Daily Journal-World, August 22, 1913. 32. Ibid.

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To the displeasure of the people of Lawrence, the survivors of Quantrill’s guerrilla band held reunions to celebrate the . This gathering took place in Independence, Missouri, August 21, 1908.

wreak a belated vengeance for the blood which Connelley told his audience the spirit that had was shed in Lawrence fifty years ago. Rather harsh moved them to gather at the memorial reunion words also were spoken by some because officers should be preserved, that the organization should be of the United States army did not pursue and fight made perpetual. It should be made the medium of Quantrell’s gang after the bloody massacre and be- lofty ideals in which the people would teach their cause some of these same officers prevented the incensed neighbors and home guards, mustered children patriotism that would lead them up to after the raid, from pursuing Quantrell and wreck- Lawrence in the future to commemorate not only the ing vengeance of their own kind. massacre but also other struggles of this city for free- 33 dom for America. That the Topeka newspaper’s account was more per- It should not be thought that the memorial re- ceptive of survivor attitudes is suggested by the fol- union was an event without certain inconsistencies lowing Lawrence Daily Journal-World article of August and contradictions. One local newspaper reported 21, 1909: “The story of the raid never grows cold here that a few local citizens had feared the memorial and the blood of the old settlers who survived the would reopen old wounds. It was conceded that blood lusting raiders, still boils when they read each grievances were long-lived and injuries difficult to year of the celebrations at Independence of the very heal, and it had taken the town a long time to reach men who shot down their friends and neighbors and the point where it could have a reunion in the proper 35 relatives and burned their homes and stores.” spirit. Fortunately, it was asserted, the wounds of fifty years ago were all healed. “The sorrows of those lanners of the reunion, while they concentrat- days live with us and the memory of heroism cannot 34 ed their efforts on memorializing the victims, be allowed to perish. But the bitterness is gone.” were not always consistent in their objectives. The Topeka Daily Capital, however, contradicted This was borne out at the first planning meeting on this view: PMay 17, 1913, when it was reported a movement had At the mention of Quantrell the blood of these sur- been started that had a two-fold objective—to honor vivors still boils, and some of the speakers indicat- the memory of the men and boys who had been ed that they still would listen to a proposal to killed and to celebrate the town’s present greatness. swoop down upon the reunion of the survivors of In subsequent weeks short editorials appeared that Quantrell’s band, now in progress in Missouri, and commented favorably on plans for the memorial but

33. Ibid. 35. Topeka Daily Capital, August 22, 1913; Lawrence Daily Journal- 34. Ibid., August 21, 1913. World, August 21, 1909; August 21, 1913.

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insisted it should have a fo- Atherton ends his book by as- cused purpose: “The plan is serting that “The real problem to have the entire city feel of the country town thus de- that it has a direct interest in mands only an honest answer this memorial. It is a sacred to the Biblical question, ‘For occasion and will be carried what is a man profited, if he out in a reverent spirit.” “This shall gain the whole world, 37 is in no sense a parade or and lose his own soul.’” show but a solemn memorial. Beginning on July 24, 1913, It has been half a century the Journal-World announced since the raid and it is time that it would publish a maga- that Lawrence as a town did zine supplement to the daily something to commemorate paper to commemorate the the memory of the martyrs.” fiftieth anniversary of the “This is not in any sense a cel- The full story of the massacre was recounted by leading his- massacre. The supplement torian William Elsey Connelley in his Quantrill and the ebration; it is a memorial and Border Wars, published in 1909. would contain about sixty- as such the solemnity of the four pages, profusely illus- occasion will be maintained. It is fitting that after half trated, that aimed “to prove that ‘Lawrence Today’ is a century the people now living should do honor to a leader in the march of progress of live cities and en- those who gave their lives for a good cause. The ergetic citizens.” In mid-August the headline in the memorial is a town affair and the town generally will paper was “Lawrence to be Widely Advertised.” Or- 36 participate.” ders for the supplement to be entitled Lawrence: Today While the planners proceeded with plans for a re- and Yesterday had been received from a score of union of the survivors to commemorate the martyrs Kansas towns and nine states. Readers who assumed in a solemn and reverent spirit, other leaders, chiefly that the publication was simply a money-making those who were influential in the Lawrence business scheme for the publishers were said to have too nar- community, made plans to celebrate the town’s row a vision. The newspaper claimed that “It is a achievements. In his book Main Street on the Middle public spirited enterprise that will give Lawrence, the Border Lewis Atherton asserts that everywhere in the university and the state of Kansas the most favorable country towns of nineteenth-century America men advertising that they have ever received from a pub- were enamored with the idea of progress, believing lication of this character.” that while the present was superior to the past, the On the day following the reunion an article enti- future held even greater promise. Writing in the tled “Memorial Was a Splendid Success” was pub- 1950s Atherton said: lished in the Journal-World. It said, in part:

As yet, most country towns retain their tradi- Nothing marred the events of yesterday and tional philosophies of “progress.” Town fathers the Lawrence Massacre Memorial was conducted continue to think in terms of population growth just as planned, just as was hoped and everyone and rising real-estate prices. They stress the who attended was immensely pleased. It was not virtues of industrialization, of exploitation of local an occasion for mirth and pomp and splendor; this mineral resources, of improved transportation, was a solemn occasion, an occasion for patriotism and of trade-at-home, home town loyalty as keys and a time for paying tribute to the dead. But there to “progress.” In doing so, they are captives of was a certain happiness and joy in the occasion, their own past. joy for the veterans to be reunited again with those

37. Lewis Atherton, Main Street on the Middle Border (Bloomington: 36. Lawrence Daily Journal-World, May 17, 18, June 9, 1913. Indiana University Press, 1954), 330–32, 353–57.

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they had not seen for years and joy for the younger erage it generated. From mid-May to late August generation to observe and to hear them. 1913 the leading paper supplied the public with full The Memorial Committee is immensely pleased with the success of the undertaking and accounts of planning sessions that culminated in Lawrence should feel proud of the results of the page after page devoted to the proceedings of the re- gathering. The visitors were all greatly pleased and union, including lists of victims and survivors and to them it will be an occasion long to be remem- the full texts of the addresses of principal speakers. bered. To appreciate the uniqueness of the gathering in The same paper carried a short editorial saying that 1913, one needs to understand the special features of although the reunion was a great and fitting one and the raid itself. As Reverend Richard Cordley, long the the people of Lawrence were “rebaptized with patri- town’s leading authority on the raid and massacre, otic fervor,” such things should not pass out of the pointed out in his memorial sermon on August 21, memory of men. “The world needs to be reminded of 1892: what suffering there has been, of what price has been The Lawrence Massacre will always stand among paid for freedom and personal liberty. It was a fitting the marked massacres of the world. In some re- meeting throughout and the best part of it was the spects it was unique, and had features of its own survivors who got together and talked over the that distinguished it from any other. In the sud- 38 denness with which it fell, the speed with which it raid.” was accomplished, the hatred and vindictiveness with which it was persecuted, the violence and he Lawrence memorial reunion was held at a brutality by which it was characterized, it stands time of many Civil War battle reunions and alone as something unique in history. GAR encampments throughout the United States. By far the largest was the three-day semi-cen- To Albert Castel, a modern authority, the Lawrence Ttennial reunion of the Battle of Gettysburg in July massacre was the most atrocious act of the Civil War 1913, where upwards of fifty thousand Union and and the outstanding event of the Civil War in Kansas. Confederate veterans were encamped on the battle- The fact that the massacre took place during a four- field and where many old friends and old enemies hour period on one day in the life of the people of had opportunities to talk over old times. On May 26, Lawrence, that they were taken by surprise, were vir- 1914, the Thirty-Third Encampment of the Kansas tually unarmed and leaderless, and gunned down re- GAR opened at Topeka with approximately five thou- morselessly, meant that, unlike most kinds of re- 39 sand Union army veterans in attendance. unions, it was no easy task to have a large-scale While the reunion at Lawrence was small by com- reunion until the bitter feelings of the past fifty years parison with those held at Gettysburg, Topeka, and were largely healed. Probably the most enduring and elsewhere, it is significant in that it memorialized a underlying meaning of the reunion was that of psy- tragic event of great importance in Civil War Kansas chic tension and conflict between the Civil War holo- and the United States. It brought from states near and caust and the subsequent material progress of the sur- far the survivors of the Quantrill massacre to meet vivors. This struggle is symbolized by the seal of the with old friends who remained behind. Never before City of Lawrence depicting a phoenix rising from the or after was such an assemblage of people gathered ashes and the seal of the State of Kansas depicting the who, having had fifty years to reflect upon their ex- progress from pioneer hardships to agrarian prosper- periences, had the opportunity to meet with friends ity with the Latin inscription, “Ad Astra Per Aspera,” 40 and talk over old times. Evidence that the reunion translated as “To The Stars Through Difficulty.” was the town’s most important public event from 1865 to 1917 is demonstrated by the newspaper cov- 40. Lawrence Daily Journal-Tribune, August 22, 1892; Albert Castel, A 38. Lawrence Daily Journal-World, August 22, 1913. Frontier State at War: Kansas 1861–1865 (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University 39. New York Times, July 5, 1913; Topeka Daily Capital, May 2, 1914. Press, 1958), 136.

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