Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1903-07-07
IHEQUANTRELLRA
TRUE STORY OF THE BIG FIGHT
IN KANSAS.
AMES A LANE WAS THE LEADER
He Played General For Eight Months
City of Lawrence, Kan, Had Two
Disastrous Fires-Was the Center
of Abolition Movement in the West.

OF Abolition Movement in the West.
1.-THE true story of the famous Guam
| trell raid of 1868 on Lawrence, Kans.,
has never been written" said we'll
known Missourian whose sympathies
| We're with the pro-slavery side OF the
controversy that ragged SO bitterly in
Kansas before the war. st is not gen
orally remembered by the way that
Lawrence was burned twice, but the
| first burning in 1856 was uninterest-
| ing as compared with the Quantrell
| raid Being the center and head
quarters of the anti-slavery movement
| in the west, Lawrence was especially
| offensive to the Missourians. In 1856
a number Of them entered in to an
| agreemnt with a lot of soldiers, includ-
| ing lieutenant or two and several
sergeants and corporals to join them
| in an attempt to burn the place. A
| mixed crowd of Missourians and ire
| sponsible soldiers swept down on the
place in 1856, killing several people and
| burning the town to the ground. OF
course the soldiers implicated in this
enterprise had no authirty for their &C
ton from the commanding officer of
the district, but anyhow, the Missouri
ans managed to get clear in the mat
ter by asserting that they acted with
the sanction of the military, that the
latter even assisted, and that they
| burned the town of Lawrence because
it was in state of open rebellion.
But to return to the Quantrell raid
of 1858. James A. Lane was the NOV
| ing spirit, leader and genius of the
| Kansas abolitionists. At or soon after
| the outbreak of the civil war, do not
| remember the exact date, he was elect
| ed to the senate from Kansas. Soon
after his arrival in the capital it was
reported that he had been offered a
brigadier generalship by President
Lincoln. Investigation proved the ru-
NOR to be correct and that the inten-
tion of the government was to place
him in command of the troops sta
toned and operating in the Missouri
Kansas district. Few people ever I'M
| derstood the true character OF Lane,
| who was most extraordinary man
and a genius of no mean parts.
Seized Generalship.
ut was not long after the report re-
garding the generalship got into circu-
lation in Washington, when without
any previous word to anybody, Lane
suddenly picked UP his baggage and
left the capital for Kansas. There
lots of people, who, when the govern
| ment offers them military honors,
would like first of all, to serve brief
season in the field before making up
their minds whether or not to accept.
Such was the case with Lane. He was
uncertain whether he wanted to be a
senator or general Humanlike, he
| quite naturally desired to select that
which would yield the greatest amount
of glory, but there was the rub. By re-
fusing he might miss forever the gold
en- opportunity of becoming one of the
greatest generals in history. BY ac-
cepting he might cut short brilliant
career as statesman to be-
come mediocre military man. Which
of the two should he elect to take?
Most men would have bothered
along, losing sleep and worrying them
selves to death. He asked advice from
none, but made up his mind at once
to undertake and carry out a bold and
unheard-of plan. In short he decided
| to become brigadier general on pro-
baton to ascertain whether or not he
was fitted for military career before
determining to accept or refuse the
Presidents offer. When he left Wash
ington not a soul in the city knew his
| intentions. The papers stated
that he had gone to accept his COM
missions, but he did nothing of the
sort.
General Blount was then in COM
mand of the troops operating along
the Missouri-Kansas border and sta
toned at Leavenworth, but when Lane
reached Kansas his personal magnet
ism and influence over the people was
so powerful that he simply took COM
mand of the district in spite of Blount,
who became a mere figurehead, whose
sole occupation was to sign the orders
| that Lane dictated. Blount opposed
the usurpation at first, but it did not
| last long. Lane made himself SO eX-
tremely popular with the officers and
soldiers under Blount that the latter
was soon forced to submit. Moreover,
Blount was afraid to enter a protest
at the department for fear that Lane,
as senator, might cause his downfall
| The soldiers worshiped Lane, whereas
they had little regard for their real
commander, and so Lane ruled the
roost without the shadow of authority
for so doing.
| Played General Eight Months.
"Well, for about eight months he
played brigadier general to his
| hearts content and a red-hot old time
he had of it. You could depend on
Lane for action and vigor, if for moth
ing else, and during the brief period
he was in command the Confederates
| suffered. But during that time Lane
reached the conclusion that he would
rather be senator than general, so
that at the end of eight months he
turned the command over to the
rightful officer, General Blount, con-
tenting himself with a senatorship
and declining the Presidents offer of a
brigadier generalship. After he had
tried and found just what it contained
in the way Of substantial glory, 1
think this action on the part of Lane
stands without parallel in the en-
tire military history of the United
| States il not of the world. If was