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Blog: The Western Tuskegee
Destruction of the city of Lawrence and massacre of its inhabitants by so-called rebel guerrillas
This is an illustration of the August 21, 1863, raid led by William Clarke Quantrill, 1837-1865, on Lawrence, Kansas. Quantrill and a group of 300 Confederate guerrillas attacked Lawrence at dawn. They shot down every man they saw and fired into the windows as they rode by, killing nearly 200 people. Banks, stores, and saloons were all looted, along with dozens of houses. Much of what could not be carried off was burned and the town was covered with smoke. By nine o'clock in the morning, it was all over and Quantrill escaped into the Missouri hills. The illustration was copied from the September 5, 1863, issue of Harper's Weekly.
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