I Am Alive
Aftermath
As the scene at their entrance was one of the wildest, the scene after their departure was one of the saddest that ever met mortal gaze. Massachusetts Street was one bed of embers. On this street seventy-five buildings, containing at least twice that number of places of business and offices, were destroyed. The dead lay all along the side-walk, many of them so burned that they could not be recognized, and could scarcely be taken up. Here and there among the embers could be seen the bones of those who had perished in the buildings and had been consumed. On two sides of another block lay seventeen bodies. Almost the first sight that met our gaze, was a father almost frantic, looking for the remains of his son among the embers of his office. The work of gathering and burying the dead soon began. From every quarter they were being brought in, until the floor of the Methodist Church, which was taken as a sort of a hospital, was covered with dead and wounded. In almost every house could be heard the wail of the widow and orphan. The work of burying was sad and wearying. Coffins could not be procured. Many carpenters were killed and most of the living had lost their tools. But they rallied nobly and worked day and night, making pine and walnut boxes, fastening them together with the burnt nails gathered from the ruins of the stores. It sounded rather harsh to the ear of the mourner, to have the lid nailed over the bodies of their loved ones; but it was the best that could be done. Thus the work went on for three days, til one hundred and twenty-two were deposited in the Cemetery, and many others in their own yard. Fifty-three were buried in one long grave. Early on the morning after the massacre, our attention was attracted by loud wailings. We went in the direction of the sound, and among the ashes of a building, sat a woman, holding in her hands the blackened skull of her husband, who was shot and burned at that place.
Excerpted from “William Clarke Quantrill and the Civil War Raid on Lawrence, Kansas, August 21, 1863, an Eyewitness Account,” Rev. Richard Cordley, edited by Richard B. Sheridan, 1999.
Letter from Elisabeth Crittenden to her mother, Amarilla Earle in Connecticut, Sept. 22, 1863.
Elisabeth is writing to let her mother know she is alive, having survived Quantrill’s Raid. Jennie Earl, her sister, is referred to in the letter, and also lived in Lawrence.
Samuel and Kate Riggs, undated.
A district attorney, and judge, Samuel Riggs was one of the targets of Quantrill’s men. Quantrill had appeared in Douglas County court before Riggs, and wanted revenge. Riggs was saved by the brave actions of his wife, Kate. Having been called out of his home, he was about to be shot by a man on horseback when Mrs. Riggs grabbed the horse’s bridle. The horse bolted, throwing the shooter off balance, and dragging Mrs. Riggs around the house, over a wood pile, and through the yard. Righting himself the bushwacker took aim again, and once more Mrs. Riggs grabbed the reins, throwing the man’s aim off and allowing Mr. Riggs to escape.
Dr. Jerome F. Griswold and his wife Helen Griswold, undated.
Dr. Griswold was killed by Quantrill’s Raiders along with Josiah Trask and Sen. Thorpe. His wife Helen was left with two young children. Their home was not burned. Helen later was elected city librarian for a few years before remarrying.
Lathrop Bullene, undated, and telegram sent to him from W.M. Johnson, August 22, 1863.
Quantrill burned Lawrence twenty first. Your house and friends safe.
Mr. Bullene was in New York, buying merchandise for his store at the time of the raid. His wife and children were in Lawrence. He lost his store, and his entire inventory in the fire. He was able to rebuild and prospered in later years.
Letter, from George Edwin Young to his father, Darius Franklin Young, August 23, 1863 (includes typescript).
George Young was travelling from Minneola, Kansas to Lecompton for a mowing job, and decided to stay overnight in Lawrence at the Johnson House hotel, a substantial structure of Stone located on Vermont Street, on August 20. He describes his ordeal and escape from Quantrill’s men by hiding in an unfinished building over a floor drain. Others in the Johnson House did not fare so well. Here is what Rev. Cordley has to say in his eyewitness account
At the Johnson House, they shot at all that showed themselves, and the prisoners that were finally taken and marched off, were shot a few rods from the house, some of them among the fires of the burning buildings. Such was the common fate of those who surrendered themselves as prisoners.
Andrew Williams, narrative, undated.
A first-hand autobiographical account, written by an African American man describing how he escaped, with his family, from slaveholder Henry Williams of Mount Vernon, Missouri, during the Civil War. He, his mother and siblings, liberated themselves from chattel slavery by escaping to the 6th Kansas regiment when they raided the area in 1862. By August, 1863, Andrew Williams and his family are living in Lawrence. He describes his experience on August 21:
We left Fort Scott and moved to Lawrence in April and was living on Massachusetts Street in August 63 when Quantrill done his murdering. He had about 400 men. He came right by our house it was a little after day light. … We thought they were union men until one in the crowd said “Brake ranks.” Then they scattered in all directions when we seen one Bushwacker call out one man and talking a minute to him then shot him down. We left home and went down Kaw River about 4 miles and hid in the brush. We stayed there until night before we came back to town. We was afraid they would come back.
Photos of Harlow Baker and his wife Caroline Ridenour Baker, undated.
According to Rev. Cordley’s account of the Raid
At Dr. Jerome F. Griswold there were four families. The doctor and his lady had just returned the evening before from a visit east. Hon. S. M. Thorp, State Senator, Mr. JC Trask, Editor of the Kansas State Journal, Mr. H.W. Baker, Grocer, and their ladies, were boarding in Dr. Griswold’s family. The house was attacked…They called for the men to come out. When they did not obey very readily they assured them “they should not be harmed – if the citizens quietly surrendered, they might save the town. “ The idea brought them out at once… The ruffians ordered them to get into line…They had scarcely gone twenty feet from the yard before the whole were shot down. Dr. Griswold and Mr. Trask were killed at once. Mr. Thorp and Mr. Baker wounded, but apparently dead. The ladies attempted to come to their husbands from the house but were driven back … After the bodies had lain about half an hour, a gang rode up, rolled them over, and shot them again. … After shooting the men, the ruffians went in and robbed the house. … Mr. Thorp lingered in great pain until the next day, when he died. Mr. Baker, after long suspense, recovered.