Lawrence Massacre: Difference between revisions

Many have characterized Quantrill's decision to kill young boys alongside adult men as a particularly reprehensible aspect of the raid.<ref>{{cite book|author=Schultz, Duane|title=Quantrill's War: The Life and Times of William Clarke Quantrill, 1837{{en dash}}1865|publisher=[[St. Martin's Press]]|location=New York|year=1997}} Chapter 9 is entitled, "Kill Every Man Big Enough to Carry a Gun", an alleged Quantrill quote.</ref> Bobbie Martin is generally cited as being the youngest victim; some histories of the raid state he could have been as young as ten to twelve years old,<ref>{{cite book|author=Connelley, William Elsey|title=Quantrill and the Border Wars|url=https://archive.org/details/quantrillborderw00connuoft|publisher=The Torch Press|location=[[Cedar Rapids, Iowa]]|year=1910|pages=362{{en dash}}363|access-date=November 2, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160922032250/https://archive.org/details/quantrillborderw00connuoft|archive-date=September 22, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> while others state he was fourteen.<ref>{{cite book|author=Leslie, Edward E.|title=The Devil Knows How to Ride: The True Story of William Clarke Quantrill and his Confederate Raiders|publisher=[[Da Capo Press]]|location=Boston|year=1996|page=226}}</ref> Most accounts state he was wearing a Union soldier uniform or clothing made from his father's uniform; some state he was carrying a musket and cartridges.<ref>{{cite book|author=Goodrich, Thomas|title=Blood Dawn: The Story of the Lawrence Massacre|publisher=[[Kent State University Press]]|location=[[Kent, Ohio]]|year=1991|page=104}}</ref> (For perspective on the age of participants in the conflict, it has been estimated that about 800,000 Union soldiers were seventeen years of age or younger, with about 100,000 of those being fifteen or younger.)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.civilwarhome.com/boysinwar.htm|access-date=October 2, 2017|title=Boys in the Civil War!|website=CivilWarHome|date=February 15, 2002|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171023204010/http://www.civilwarhome.com/boysinwar.htm|archive-date=October 23, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> Most of Quantrill's guerrilla fighters were teenagers. One of the youngest was Riley Crawford, who was 13 when taken by his mother to Quantrill after her husband was shot and her home burned by Union soldiers.<ref>{{cite book|author=Petersen, Paul R.|title=Quantrill of Missouri: The Making of a Guerrilla Warrior – The Man, the Myth, the Soldier|year=2003|page=226|publisher=Cumberland House Publishing|location=[[Nashville, Tennessee]]}}</ref>