Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-08-07
The Death of ouautreII, ,he OUTLAW.

The Kansas City (Mo.) Times gave recently
a detailed account of the death of Qnantrell, the
notorious guerrilla Soon after the close of the
rebellion, as the Times relates, some adventurer
was bold enough to go into the very midst of
the confederate colonists at Vera Cruz, and
claim to be Quantrell; but too many of them
were acquainted with the guerrilla's features,
and the imposition was soon exposed. Some of
these colOnists removed to Honduras and there
they heard that Quantrell had preceded them;
on inspection, this second imposter turned out
to be a Swarthy New Orleans creole who could
scarcely speak English. The latest revival of
Quantrell is in the shape of an account by two
different "reliable" gentlemen, that they met
him in 1868 at Fort Lyon, New Mexico, and
conVerSed with him about his exploits in the
war, and his raid into Kansas in 1868. But,
however vigorous these sham Quantrells may
be, the real one is very effectualy buried by the
Times. II says that two men who attended him
in his last moments, and saw him buried, now
reside in Jackson county, Missouri. Their
statement is, that he was MORALLY wounded in
fight with federal troops in Kentucky in 1864,
and taken under an assumed name to a hospital
in Louisville, where he died Disguised as CIV
ilians, those faithful followers attended on him
in the hospital, and to the grave. The st. Louis
Republican says further:
ga mystery has hung about the movements
of Quantrell after his retreat to Texas, immedi-
ately subsequent to his raid on the town of
Lawrence, in Kansas, in 1868. The Times says
merely thathe became tired of the war in Mis-
souri, and in 1864 went to bushwhack east of
the Mississippi, making his way far up into
Kentucky. But from the various accounts
brought home by returning confederateS, it
would appear that he had very good reasons for
being tired of war in Missouri. The usual fate
of guerrilla chiefs with their own bands pur-
sued him. Quarrels, originating, it was be-
lieved, in the dissatisfaction of some of his fol-
lowers with the distribution of the real or sup
posed Sp0ils of Lawrence, led his band to select
some other leaders. Commanders of regular
forces are almost always hostile to partisan war
fare, as it reacts injurOusly on the discipline of
their own troops, complexities questions of eX-
change Of prisoners and retaliation and often
SET ously interferes with regular military opera
tons. 1t so happened that Quantrel's massacre
at Lawrence not only excited general disgust and
horror among rejecting cOnfederates, but COM
pletely thwarted a very daring project of the
confederate authorities. The incursion of
Gen. Shelby into Missouri in the fall
of 1868. was planned on the information,
correct at the time, that Missouri was almost
denuded of available union troops; and he was
expected TO be able to maintain himself for at
least fortnight on the Missouri river and gather
in large number ofrecruits before being forced
to return. The Lawrence outrage caused q sud-
den reunion of a formidable force to pursue
Quantrell; and Shelby, unexpectedly finding
himself in the very jaws of it, was forced to re-
treat without accomplishing all he had aimed at
When Quantrell got within the confederate
lines, he consequently found himself not very
welcome to the authorities, and they consented
to his remaining in Texas with his band till
FIRST grass" of the next spring, only on condi-
ton that he and his comrades should then leave,
and in their future operations under the black
flag should not in any way claim to be confeder-
ate troops, or ask protection as such. Thus
practically outlawed on both sides, and his in
huence with his own men impaired, Quantrell
had to seek some other field of operations than
Missouri. Unfamiliar with Kentucky, he was
at disadvantage in exercising his skill in guer-
lila warfare, and soon fell into the hands Of the
union forces, ending his bloody career by
death so obscure as to be now even disputed al
together.