Historian James McPherson in his book "Battle Cry of Freedom" described William Quantrill and the Partisan Rangers he commanded as: "some of the most pyschopathic killers in American history".

McPherson goes on to describe Quantrill's Raid on Lawrence , Kansas on August 21'st, 1863 as follows:

"450 men under Quantrill (including the Younger brothers and Frank James) headed for Lawrence, Kansas, the hated center of free soilism since Bleeding Kansas days. After crossing the Kansas line they kidnapped ten farmers to guide them toward Lawrence and murdered each on after his usefulness was over. Approaching the town at dawn on August 21, Quantrill ordered his followers: Kill every male and burn every house. They almost did. The first to die was a United Brethren clergyman, shot through the head while he sat milking his cow. During the next three hours Quantrill's band murdered another 182 men and boys and burned 185 buildings in Lawrence. They rode out of town ahead of pursuing the Union cavalry and after a harrowing chase made it back to their Missouri sanctuary, where they scattered to the woods"1

Unfortunately, this account by McPherson is widely accepted as fact by many of his contemporaries and the public by and large.  When the facts are reviewed however; one learns that Quantrill was no psychopath, nor were the men who followed him.

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Clint, Missouri Bushwhacker

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