Quantrill's Raid focus of Fort's program set for today

Violent events in Kansas during the Civil War era will be the focus of a reading and discussion event today at the Fort Scott National Historic Site.

The site is inviting the public to "Quantrill's Raid and Order No. 11," an event scheduled to start at 2 p.m. today in the site's Grand Hall. The performance is part of the Shared Stories of the Civil War script series, a reader's theater project the historic site has been involved with in recent years.

National Park Service Historian Bill Fischer said a group of volunteers will read scripts which focus on the topics of Quantrill's Raid and the resulting Order No. 11. Fischer will host the event.

The border between Missouri and Kansas was marked by tension and violence in the years leading up to the Civil War. Raids, sackings, murder and mayhem were so commonplace it became known as the "Border War."

Yet, even with the question of statehood resolved by January 1861, both Kansans and Missourians remained suspect of those thought sympathetic to "the other side," be it abolition or slavery, a news release from the site said.

Lincoln's election, secession and the Civil War gave purpose for renewing partisan hostility as Bushwhacker and Jayhawker guerilla militias sought retribution for past deeds and revenge for those that soon occurred. Vigilante violence quickly reached well beyond the border area.

"It was violence under the guise of the Civil War," Fischer said. "A lot of innocent people died in the mix."

In August 1863, the most notorious events in the war within a war took place. William Quantrill, a Confederate guerilla leader during the war, led the group he commanded, Quantrill's Raiders, from western Missouri against Lawrence, Kansas's stronghold of abolition. Attacking at dawn, the town was destroyed and more than 150 men and boys executed.

"They took basically every man or boy of age and just shot them," Fischer said. "They essentially burned the town to the ground."

Days later, Union General Thomas Ewing issued General Order No. 11, which effectively depopulated four Missouri border counties in hopes of preventing further large-scale guerilla raids. The innocent suffered dearly on both sides of the border.

"He (Ewing) ordered the removal of people in certain Missouri counties to prevent more of these raids against Kansas towns," Fischer said.

Fischer said at the time, Lawrence was the center of abolition in Kansas.

"Even in the Bleeding Kansas days," he said. "It had been raided during that period. It was a convenient target of opportunity. A lot dealt with old grudges. The Civil War legalized marauding, if you will. Jayhawkers were burning towns in western Missouri, too."

One incident, which happened on Aug. 14, 1863 in Kansas City, involved the collapse of a building that housed many jailed women - mothers and wives of guerilla sympathizers - injuring many female inmates and killing four, Fischer said.

Fischer said past reader's theater events at the site have been "lightly attended" but those attendees were engaged in the performances and participated in the discussions.

"They participated well, asking questions and providing input," he said. "And that's what our program is about, engaging audiences."

Shared Stories of the Civil War is a partnership between Freedom's Frontier National Heritage Area and the Kansas Humanities Council. Shared Stories of the Civil war is a collection of reader's theatre scripts created from historical letters, diaries, newspaper articles and other archival documents from the 1850s and 1860s. The scripts explore the events - the shared stories - that occurred in Kansas and Missouri during the Border War and American Civil War.

For more information, visit www.freedomsfrontier.org or www.kansashumanities.org.

FSNHS, a unit of the NPS, is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. There is no fee to enter the park or participate in the program.