The early years
Quantrill was born into a large family of 12 children (four would die in infancy) and was the oldest of the bunch. He was born on July 31, 1837 at Canal Dover (now simply known as Dover), Ohio. Even as a child, Quantrill displayed violent and cruel tendencies. Purportedly, he would shoot pigs in their ears to hear their squeals, nail snakes to trees, and tie tails of cats together just to watch them fight each other to death. He wouldn't change at all in his later years. His father, Thomas Henry Quantrill, was born in Hagerstown, Maryland, and his mother, Caroline Cornelia Clark, was originally native to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. They married on October 11, 1836 and moved to Canal Dover in December. Quantrill was surprisingly well educated and became a schoolteacher at the age of 16. In 1854, Quantrill's father died of tuberculosis, leaving the family in a massive debt. Quantrill supported the family as a schoolteacher, but grew tired and left home for Mendota, Illinois. He took up working in the lumberyards, helping unloading timber from cars. While he was working late one night, he shot and killed a man. The local authorities arrested him, but Quantrill claimed self-defense. Unfortunately, there were no eyewitnesses and the man killed was a stranger to the town so Quantrill was let go. But police advised that he should leave Mendota, and so he did.
Quantrill went back to being a schoolteacher in Fort Wayne, Indiana, which he moved to in February 1856. Even though Quantrill was considered a good teacher by his district, he received low wages and went back home to Canal Dover in the fall, having made no extra money. Quantrill spent the winter with his family in their shack, growing restless. Around this time, many Ohioans began to move to Kansas Territory in hopes of acquiring cheap land. Henry Torrey and Harmon Beeson were both interested, two men that were local to Canal Dover and hoped to build a large farm for their families in the west. They weren't too trustworthy of Quantrill, who was 19 at this time, but his mother's pleadings convinced the men to let them bring her son along with them to Kansas. They left in February 1837. Quantrill would have his land paid for by Torrey and Beeson in exchange for a few months of work. But about two months in, Quantrill started slacking off, often spending his days wandering around the wilderness with a rifle rather than working on the land. Shortly after, Quantrill went with a group of hometown friends to start a settlement on Tuscarora Lake. But Quantrill began to steal goods out of people's cabins and was eventually caught. He was kicked out of the community in January 1858. Quantrill eventually joined some Missouri ruffians. The group worked to protect Missouri farmers from Jayhawkers and earned pay and lodging while doing so. Quantrill would, somewhat ironically, end up in Lawrence, Kansas in 1859. This is around the time when his political views would begin to take shape, as well as his stance on slavery.
Originally, Quantrill appeared to be against slavery; however, eventually he began to take a pro-slavery stance. He wrote to his mother that the pro-slavery side was right and found the hanging of John Brown too good for him and wrote that, "the devil has got unlimited sway over this territory, and will hold it until we have a better set of man and society generally."
Quantrill went back to being a schoolteacher in Fort Wayne, Indiana, which he moved to in February 1856. Even though Quantrill was considered a good teacher by his district, he received low wages and went back home to Canal Dover in the fall, having made no extra money. Quantrill spent the winter with his family in their shack, growing restless. Around this time, many Ohioans began to move to Kansas Territory in hopes of acquiring cheap land. Henry Torrey and Harmon Beeson were both interested, two men that were local to Canal Dover and hoped to build a large farm for their families in the west. They weren't too trustworthy of Quantrill, who was 19 at this time, but his mother's pleadings convinced the men to let them bring her son along with them to Kansas. They left in February 1837. Quantrill would have his land paid for by Torrey and Beeson in exchange for a few months of work. But about two months in, Quantrill started slacking off, often spending his days wandering around the wilderness with a rifle rather than working on the land. Shortly after, Quantrill went with a group of hometown friends to start a settlement on Tuscarora Lake. But Quantrill began to steal goods out of people's cabins and was eventually caught. He was kicked out of the community in January 1858. Quantrill eventually joined some Missouri ruffians. The group worked to protect Missouri farmers from Jayhawkers and earned pay and lodging while doing so. Quantrill would, somewhat ironically, end up in Lawrence, Kansas in 1859. This is around the time when his political views would begin to take shape, as well as his stance on slavery.
Originally, Quantrill appeared to be against slavery; however, eventually he began to take a pro-slavery stance. He wrote to his mother that the pro-slavery side was right and found the hanging of John Brown too good for him and wrote that, "the devil has got unlimited sway over this territory, and will hold it until we have a better set of man and society generally."
Becoming a guerrilla leader
Quantrill left for Texas with a slaveholder, Marcus Gill in 1861. Here, he would meet Joel B. Mayes, a supporter of the Confederacy and chief of the Cherokee Nations in Texas. Quantrill would join the Cherokee Nations and learn guerrilla warfare tactics from Mayes. He would learn fighting tactics used by Native Americans such as ambushes, sneak attacks, and the importance of camouflage. He was part of Mayes's company, which would eventually join up with General Sterling Price, where they fought at the Battle of Wilson's Creek. Quantrill would eventually desert Price's army and decided to form his own "army" in Blue Springs, Missouri. By late December of 1861, Quantrill had 10 men who would follow him full-time. In 1862, "Bloody Bill" Anderson would join Quantrill's group.
The later years
During the winter in Texas, his group of 400+ men argued often. His group would eventually break up into smaller companies. With his lieutenants, including Bloody Bill, leaving for good with some of Quantrill's men, except for a brief "reunion" in 1864 during fighting north of the Missouri River. In 1865, during the spring, Quantrill with his band of only a few dozen men began to raid parts of western Kentucky. While in Kentucky, his group were caught inside a barn at Wakefield Farm by Union troops. Unable to escape because of a skittish horse, he was shot in the spine and died a week later from his wounds on June 6, 1865. He was 27.