![]() ![]() ![]() Thus, Quantrill's infamous 1863 raid on Lawrence, during which his men killed 150 civilians, must be viewed in the context of Kansans' repeated raids into Missouri. Gilmore contends that many middle-class Missourians, with their way of life destroyed, had little alternative but to enter into guerrilla warfare. Ultimately, they reaped the violence they had sown. Their destruction only increased with the onset of the Civil War. ![]() In raids into Missouri from 1858 to 1861, they stole slaves and destroyed property. Kansans, including Jim Lane, James Montgomery, and "Doc" Jennison, had declared war on Missouri well before 1861. According to Gilmore's corrective, if anyone should be blamed for the atrocities of the border war, it should be the abolitionist Kansans. These histories place special emphasis on William Clarke Quantrill, whom they almost invariably depict as a demonic leader of savages. He contends that biased histories have long portrayed Kansans as innocents who suffered depredations at the hands of lower-class Missouri bushwhackers- a pejorative term that historians continue to use. ![]() Donald Gilmore seeks to redefine our understanding of the conflict on the Missouri-Kansas border during the Civil War era. ![]()
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