August 1863, MIssouri History - Updated

August, 1863 was an important month in Missouri's Civil War history. Starting with the events of August 13...

The day dawned sunny and hot in Kansas City, MO; a normal day, by any measure, with people bustling up and down Grand Avenue. But within hours, the air was filled with dust, screams and cries. A small pile of bodies was stacked by Union solders, outside of what had been #13 Grand - bodies of Confederate women jailed by the Union under suspicion of "providing aid" to their family members - members of Quantrill's Partisan Rangers.

Years before shots were fired on Fort Sumter, fighting raged along the Missouri-Kansas border. Trouble started with the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which repealed the Missouri Compromise. The Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed the residents of these new territories to vote on the issue of slavery - it was expected that Nebraska would be free, and Kansas a slave state. However, abolitionists from the East Coast states provided aid and relocation costs to those that shared their views - ensuring that Kansas would vote to outlaw slavery. Fighting soon broke out along the border area between southern-sympathizing Missourians, and "Jayhawkers" - armed mobs of Union sympathizers who were essentially terrorists that crossed the border to steal. They often burned the homes of resisters, and hung or shot the home owners.

Fast-forward to 1861, and this fighting had grown especially bitter and violent. Following Gen. Sterling Price's victory over the Yankees at the Battle of Wilson's Creek, Price's troops continued on their mission to eradicate the Kansas presence in Missouri. James Lane's Jayhawkers invaded behind him and attacked the city of Osceola, MO, stealing what they could carry and sending wagon loads of Missouri goods back to their warehouses in Lawrence, KS. Osceola was burned to the ground, displacing 3,000 residents and leaving them both homeless and penniless. Some of these men, as well as others from the border counties, joined together under William Quantrill, an officer under Price, and formed a band of Partisan Rangers to defend Missouri from the Jayhawker terrorists. (For anyone who wonders about how deeply the bad feelings still run...In September, 2011 lingering bad feelings over the raid and the sesquicentennial of the event prompted the Osceola Board of Aldermen to pass a resolution asking the University of Kansas to no longer use "Jayhawk" as their mascot and nickname. Further, the resolution asks Missouri residents to stop spelling Kansas or KU with a capital letter because "neither is a proper name or a proper place".)

By 1863, Quantrill was causing major headaches for the Jayhawkers. Adopting some Indian fighting tactics from the Cherokee, they were the founders of guerilla warfare in the US. They struck quickly, quietly, and were very well-armed cavalrymen. They were deadly. And, since most of them had lost loved ones and/or property to the Jayhawkers, they fought brutally and with a desire for revenge.

In an effort to undermine both the Confederate sympathy in Western Missouri and, in particular, Quantrill's troops, General Ewing, commander of the Union forces in the area, began ordering the arrest (and in some cases, summary execution) of people suspected of supporting the Confederacy. During the winter months, men suspected of Confederate leanings were taken from their homes and shot, and their homes burned to the ground - leaving their families left with nothing, in sub-zero temperatures. By the summer, Ewing began ordering the arrest of women related to Quantrill's men; they were accused of aiding the enemy, and imprisoned in Kansas City. After a few temporary locations, they were eventually moved to #13 Grand Avenue - a 6-year old building owned by George Caleb Bingham, a well known Missouri politician and artist - and a man who hated Gen. Ewing. The first floor was a grocery; the upper floors housed the female prisoners. Gen. Ewing appropriated the building, possibly in an attempt to annoy Bingham, who was living in Jefferson City at the time.

Among the prisoners were the 3 young sisters of William "Bloody Bill" Anderson (ages 13-18), as well as wives and sisters of several of Quanrill's men. It is believed that 17 women were held there, until plans could be made to send them east for trial. For the "crime" of providing medical supplies and food to their family members.

In the days leading up to August 13, 1863, there was activity in the basement cellar area. For some reason, pillars that supported the ceiling joists were removed by Union soldiers. The grocer on the first floor began removing his merchandise from the basement because the building was cracking and showing signs of being unstable. Guards twice reported their concerns about the safety of the building, pointing out cracks in the walls and ceilings, as well as the foundation. But an investigator sent by Gen. Ewing found the building safe for the prisoners.

Then, sometime after dinner on August 13, 1863, when there was strangely only 1 guard on duty, women began screaming as the building began shuddering and collapsed in on itself. It pulled the building next door down with it. Union soldiers in the area and passersby began trying to pull the women from the rubble.

Of the 17 women and 1 young boy held there, 5 were killed, and several others were maimed or crippled for life. Observers on the street immediately began stating that it was done deliberately by the Yankees. As for Ewing and his men, there were several excuses thrown out: hogs were rutting along one side of the building, weakening the foundation; the building was in disrepair, even though it was only 6 years old and the upper stories had recently been remodeled; and that the prisoners were digging in the cellar, trying to tunnel out - though how they would have accomplished this from the 2nd floor was unexplained. Ultimately, Bingham himself had the building investigated and sued the army for having removed the supporting pillars in the basement/cellar and causing the building to fall.

Whether it was done deliberately is in question today. But, in the minds of Quantrill's men, who were grief-stricken and outraged at the news, there was certainty that their sisters and wives were deliberately targeted and killed or injured. Bloody Bill was especially affected - 1 of his sisters died, another had 2 broken legs, and the third was left permanently crippled. One of Bob and Cole Younger sisters (from James Gang infamy) was injured, and died 2 years later, partially due to the injuries she sustained there.

Targeting women was a new low, even for the Jayhawkers who were in part of the Union forces in Kansas City. One of Quantrill's men was heard to say, "We could stand no more."

Throughout that time period, Lawrence, KS, located about 40 miles southwest of Kansas City, was on Quantrill's list of targets due to it being the home of the Jayhawker leader, James Lane. There were a number of warehouses in Lawrence that were known to hold stolen items from homes the Jayhawkers had plundered in Missouri. A raid on Lawrence was moved to the top of the list, and plans for an attack went into high gear.

This little history lesson was compiled from a number of sources that I read on this incident. Feel free to add or correct if you have read something different. I'll update with the attack on Lawrence next week.