Jackson
County (Mo.) Historical Society
Portals
to the Past by David W. Jackson
In
Civil War, area saw rise of martial law Historical
organizations this month are commemorating a harrowing sequence of events
from August 1863 when local civil government gave way to martial law.
Six
years before the outbreak of the Civil War, terrorism reigned here.
Kansans favoring abolition migrating primarily from northern states came
into conflict with Missourians where ¾ of the 1860 population were
sympathetic to southern traditions reliant on slavery. Widespread
bloodshed, daily skirmishes, and clashes between neighbors typified
escalating guerilla tactics. In 1861, Col.
Jennison, of the 1st Kansas Cavalry, issued an edict to
Missourians along the border counties that their property would
confiscated, houses burned, and that nobody would be spared who refused
the proclamation. William Clarke Quantrill responded in January 1862 by
organizing the first band of about 20 Confederate Missourians. These
irregular or guerilla forces grew in numbers, attacked and surprised their
enemies by stealth, and fought to protect themselves and their
property.
Quantrill’ posse was ambushed and narrowly escaped a blazing house
fire at New Santa Fe (at about 125th and Wornall today). The
Union also set Osceola, Mo., afire. In retaliation, there was a ‘massacre’
at Centralia, Ks. A previous Portals to the Past column
discussed the destruction of a Kansas City women’s prison killing or
injuring many southern ladies, which led to Quantrill’s 1863 infamous
burning of Lawrence, Ks., a Union stronghold.
Mapleton, Ks., resident, David Lee Campbell, wrote to his
brother: “…Nearly all the good
houses were burned. It is an awful sight to look at. They killed all the
prominent men they could find. In fact they kill every thing they saw
except a few person at the Whitney House.... They
stayed some two or three hours in town. They stole all the horses, money,
and goods they could carry and burned the rest. They were so hurried that
they could not burn all the houses. And the women put out the fire when
they could. But in the center of the town the rebles (sic.) were too watchful to allow the fire put
out. They were in the town before the people knew it. They had their spies
there for a week and some of the copperheads assisted them by pointing out
houses to burn. There is no doubt but they intended to kill all the men of
Lawrence and then go down throught (sic.) Kansas
and kill and burn as they went. They burned all the houses for ten miles
south of Lawrence as they left town but there Jim Lane over took them and
commenced a fight. Quantrille (sic.) had from
500 to 800 men well armed. Lane had only 150 men just picked up.... The
people of Kansas will be sure to avenge the slain of Lawrence.... There
are about 80 widows and over 300 orphant (sic.)
children in Lawrence.”
Trying to control of vigilante justice, Union General Ewing issued
General Orders No. 11 in August 1863, requiring all Southern
sympathizers to vacate their homes and remove from Jackson County, under
pain of death.
Brutally enforcing the Order, some Union forces abused their power.
Eyewitness accounts recount the cruelty of homes and crops being burned,
destruction of livestock, people being killed without cause or proof of
crime and, possessions being looted. Missouri artist George Caleb Bingham
was the only Union soldier to protest publicly. Refusing to plunder and
kill, he painted, Martial Law depicting these atrocities.
An engraving of the painting signed by Bingham has been reproduced
for sale by the Jackson County Historical Society in response to frequent
questions about Order No. 11, and Quantrill.
Historical materials from and about those directly affected by the
border warfare and Order No. 11 are available for research in the Jackson
County Historical Society’s Archives, which collects and preserves
original letters and diaries from this unique chapter in our
history. | |