August 21, 1863: massacre in Lawrence, Kansas

On this day in 1863, a rebel guerrilla attack led by William Quantrill led to mass murder in the Union town of Lawrence, Kansas.

Long an abolitionist town, Lawrence had been the center of the Bleeding Kansas battles of 1856. Quantrill picked the time and place well in advance, and his 300-400 men arrived on schedule, launching an all-out attack on Lawrence in the morning. They were gone by 9 a.m., avoiding any immediate backlash from Union troops stationed nearby.

In their wake, they left a quarter of the town burned, and 164 people dead. In retaliation, a Union-blessed brigade led by Charles “Doc” Jennison laid waste to five counties in neighboring Missouri.

Quantrill died in 1865. Among his few followers left was a young Jesse James.

Image: Harper’s Weekly, 1863, via the Library of Congress.