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The historical marker on the wall of the parking garage commemorates a small encampment of white volunteers for the 14th Kansas Cavalry, many of them only teenagers. The actual site of the encampment was about one block south of this location.

As they rode downtown, a group of raiders trampled their tents and killed 17 of the 21 unarmed, unprepared recruits.

"Before we crossed New Hampshire St. [three of us] were down.... I ran across an open lot to Joe Rawlins' back fence ... when we saw some of the gang ahead of us on Rhode Island St., I jumped the fence and turned to help Charley, when he was shot in the back and fell at my feet dead, leaving me the last of five." -- Cosma T. Colman

White Recruits Camp

A self-guided walking tour of downtown sites associated with Confederate guerrilla William Clarke Quantrill's devastating raid on Lawrence in 1863.

Quantrill's Raid Downtown Walking Tour

Several members of the pro-abolitionist New England Emigrant Aid Company from Massachusetts established Lawrence during a tumultuous time in Kansas' history, shortly after the enactment of the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act, which specified that territorial residents would vote whether their state would be free or slave. The "Bleeding Kansas" era commenced, named for the bloody skirmishes between anti- and pro-slavery factions, which continued into the Civil War. Still, despite conflicts during the 1850s, the original Lawrence settlers developed an urban plan for Lawrence in 1855, which included a grid-pattern street design and South Park (Lawrence's first park). The inspiration for the deadly attack on Lawrence ultimately stems from the hostility towards the Free State community by pro-slavery and Confederate sympathizers because the town played a primary role in keeping Kansas a free state (antislavery). Lawrence resident and Union brigadier general James H. Lane (who later served as a U.S. Senator) had previously led "Jayhawker" raids into Missouri, burning the town of Osceola in 1861. The 1863 Confederate guerrilla raid in Lawrence resulted in more than 150 male inhabitants dead, the city's business district set ablaze, and numerous residential homes destroyed (also by fire). Lawrence not only rebuilt after the raid and Civil War but also enjoyed a ten-year growth consisting of a robust population increase, commercial expansion, and a building boom, which included rebuilding South Park. Today, one can find the historic Theodore Roosevelt Fountain in South Park, which the town dedicated after Roosevelt visited Lawrence in 1910.

South Park originally served as a public area for residents to grow crops and graze livestock. This green space later became a staging site for the infamous "Quantrill's Raid" on August 21, 1863. The raid became a defining point in Lawrence's history. At dawn on August 21, 1863, Quantrill and his raiders rode northwest through the outskirts of Lawrence and South Park toward their objective of the downtown business district. About four hours later, having completed their mission and wary of approaching Union troops, the raiders regathered just east of the park with their plunder and rode southward out of town.

South Park

At the time of Quantrill's Raid, 11th Street was called Quincy Street.

At the corner of what is now 11th and Massachusetts Streets, a squad of raiders went west to the top of Mount Oread to watch for signs of approaching Union troops. The main body--shouting "On to the Hotel!" and other slogans--continued their ride down Massachusetts Street toward the Eldridge Hotel as smaller bands tracked along Vermont and New Hampshire Streets.

"When they came to the high ground facing Massachusetts street, not far from where the park now is, the command was given in clear tones, 'Rush on to the town.' Instantly the whole body bounded forward with the yell of demons." -- Rev. Richard Cordley, Lawrence resident

"Rush on to the Town"

The museum itself is located on 1047 Massachusetts Street and was previously the Watkins Bank; the exhibit was opened on the 150th anniversary of Quantrill’s Raid in 2013. The exhibit is free to all visitors and was constructed with two main purposes according to the curators: to memorialize the events in Lawrence in a meaningful location, and to capture the essence of the events in a way that would appeal to visitors seeking an accurate historical experience.The raid in the city of Lawrence, which was founded by anti-slavery settlers, can be considered a cumulation of the tensions between pro-slavery and anti-slavery parties in the surrounding area. Kansas became a political battleground when it was granted the right to determine whether slavery would be permitted in its borders. Many state constitutions, both pro and antislavery, were drafted before the Wyandotte Constitution was approved to be the State Constitution of Kansas when it entered the Union as a free state in 1861. Because of the political disagreements, violence erupted in Kansas with both sides contributing to bloodshed, gaining the state the nickname “Bleeding Kansas”.Before the Quantrill’s Raid in Lawrence, abolitionist “Jayhawkers” had also killed many pro-slavery settlers. John Brown, an abolitionist who moved to Kansas with his family in 1855, was a key figure in much of the violence. He led a company known as the “Liberty Guards” in their murder of non-violent pro-slavery settlers camped near the Wakarusa River which became known as the “Wakarusa War”. Following the sack of Lawrence by pro-slavery forces in 1856, he led his sons and two others as they hacked five pro-slavery settlers to death in the “Pottawatomie Massacre”. Brown ultimately left Kansas to prepare for his failed raid of Harper’s Ferry, for which he was hanged, but was a major instigator of the violent counter-attacks during following years.Another key figure was James Lane, a politician who was elected as one of Kansas’ first U.S. senators when it entered the Union, who led a group of guerrillas known as “Lane’s Brigade”. There were several groups like his, such as Colonel Charles Jennison’s “Jennison’s Jayhawkers”, who participated in the violence along the Kansas-Missouri border against Confederates “Bushwhackers”. On September 23, 1861, James Lane’s forces burned Osceola, Missouri to the ground and killed nine men. During this time William Quantrill, who was a former Confederate soldier, had formed his own pro-slavery guerrilla force and conducted attacks in the Kansas towns of Shawnee and Olathe. In 1863 the tensions were peaking; female family members of “Bloody Bill” Anderson, one of Quantrill’s soldiers, were seized and four were killed when the prison they were being held in collapsed. General Thomas Ewing Jr. issued an order that authorized the arrest of all those who aided bushwhackers and forced all the wives and children of those bushwhackers to leave Kansas immediately. William Quantrill launched his raid on Lawrence three days later and led a 400-man militia in the killing of over 200 people.The exhibit remembers the raid through artifacts from locations that were affected, stories from Lawrence residents who experienced it and showcasing Lawrence’s recovery in the aftermath. The physical location of the museum was also involved in the events of Quantrill’s Raid. In 1863, the museum was a house where Wesley and Elizabeth Duncan lived; Wesley owned a local store and the raiders came to his home and offered to spare his life in exchange for the location of the store, which they ransacked. Remembering the events in an accurate and neutral way can be difficult, as there is misinformation on details from this period as James Malin notes in his article that is cited, but the exhibit’s content creates an authentic experience. At the center of the exhibit is a room which features an interactive display that highlights some of the individual events and their location, such as Frederick Kimball’s death at 646 Kentucky Street, the church at 724 Vermont Street that was used as a morgue, and the Union army meeting place that was attacked. The room also has a case which contains artifacts from the raid including floorboard from a house that was destroyed and window panes that were fused together by the intense fire. The museum cycles sub-exhibits that focus on more specific individual stories, such as those of local women and their heroic actions during the raid, that create a more personal connection for visitors. One last significant aspect of the remembrance is history regarding how Lawrence came together in commemoration, including a seven-year effort to move the bodies to a new burial ground, a relief bill that provided compensation to those affected, and parades featuring survivors that continued for nearly one hundred years.

The Bleeding Kansas exhibit at the Watkins Museum of History remembers Quantrill’s Raid of Lawrence, Kansas and its significance in relation to the Civil War. The exhibit contains background information on the people and events preceding the raid, information regarding the places in Lawrence that were affected, and artifacts.

Bleeding Kansas Exhibit at the Watkins Museum of History

William Quantril, an officer commissioned by the Confederacy in 1861 to form and lead guerilla troops, led a devastating and deadly raid on Lawrence on August 21, 1863. Lawrence had enjoyed a reputation for being a hub of abolitionism and a home to fugitive and newly freed slaves. Moreover, prominent men led raids on Missouri towns, which included plundering (and taking freed slaves back to Lawrence). Quantrill and several hundred men arrived in the early morning and, by the time they had left, had burned much of town to the ground and killed at least 150 men and teenage boys, roughly one-quarter of the male population older than fifteen. Two of Quantrill's targets involved two groups of soldiers staying in Lawrence, including a Black regiment. Both collections of soldiers stayed in unprotected camps as they awaited orders to join their respective units on the front lines. Little did they know they would be thrust into action when Quantrill and his men lay siege on Lawrence. The twenty-two Caucasian soldiers with the Fourteenth Kansas Jayhawker Regiment were assembled on the east side of Massachusetts Street on Lawrence's southeast side, while an additional twenty African American soldiers serving with the Second Kansas Colored Infantry camped a bit further south on the corner of 10th and Massachusetts.At dawn, Quantrill and his men invaded Lawrence with a plan to kill any man or teenage boy old enough to carry a gun. One focus of Quantrill's raid included the Second Kansas Colored Infantry commander, Samuel S. Snyder, who had led various troops into Missouri to raid their towns in the years before Quantrill came to Lawrence. Snyder persuaded enslaved people to leave farms and plantations, carrying as much plunder from their former enslavers as possible, including livestock, horses, carriages, and wagons. The gunshots and screaming awakened the African American soldiers who were vastly outnumbered but able to flee. A historical marker at the parking garage at 933 New Hampshire designates the location of a small group of white recruits who were less fortunate. Although some of these young men were only teenagers, Quantrill's raiders killed seventeen of the twenty-one white recruits who had been camped at that location. bushwhackers chased them to the river, where they drowned or were killed by gunfire.

On this corner stood a small encampment of African American men who were recruits for the 2nd Kansas Colored Infantry Regiment. As Quantrill's raiders entered Lawrence, the twenty or so Black recruits heard gunfire and horses' hooves and knew they were in grave danger as they saw between 400 and 450 mounted raiders. The men immediately fled to a willow grove two miles down the river, where they hid with other African Americans until the raiders left Lawrence. "As I stood looking some three or four negroes from the camp, which was some forty rods from where I stood, came rushing by, hallooing 'The Secesh [secessionists] have come!" -- Erastus D. Ladd, raid survivor.

Black Recruits Camp

Friedo Barteldes emigrated from Germany and moved to Lawrence with his wife Josephine in 1860, one year before the start of the U.S. Civil War. Barteldes operated a bakery on Massachusetts Street. However, Confederate General William Quantrill (who once lived in Lawrence under an alias) and 400 of his guerrilla-type soldiers rode into town on the morning of August 21, 1863, and burned much of the city, killing more than 160 people. The raid terrorized the people, made widows of more than eighty women, and included a blazing fire that destroyed at least seventy-five buildings that lined Massachusetts Street, including the Ridenour-Baker Building. Quantrill's Raid was a deadly massacre of civilians by pro-slavery partisans who used the conflict during the territorial period and Civil War as a pretext to commit their crimes. Quantrill and his raiders also resented Free Staters who founded and later controlled Lawrence, and they came from mostly pro-slavery communities in nearby Missouri. In the early years of Kansas Territory, Lawrence had a reputation for being an anti-slavery stronghold. During the war Union regiments ("Jayhawkers") ordered to control guerrilla troops and raid Confederate-friendly Missouri towns regularly stayed in Lawrence. Quantrill's men were also motivated by the idea of vengeance, as eight days before Quantrill's Raid, a women's prison in Kansas City mysteriously collapsed, killing female relatives of the guerrillas.As the historical marker outside the building notes, Peter Ridenour and Harlow Baker were the first shop owners on Massachusetts Street to rebuild, and reports at the time indicated that the repair work only took around one week to complete. The pair later created a thriving grocery business in Kansas City's West Bottoms.Frederick W. Barteldes later operated a vast seed retail business in the structure and was one of the most well-known and beloved Lawrence residents of the early 20th century. Fire struck again in 1904, and the Barteldes family rebuilt the original two-story building and added a third floor. The seed company that would become the successful Kansas Seed House, the largest seed firm west of the Mississippi, employed four traveling salespeople and more than fifteen on-site workers. In 1906, the Kansas Seed House was incorporated as the Barteldes Seed Company and expanded to Denver and Oklahoma City locations; the company's headquarters moved to Denver in 1961.

This historic Lawrence structure was one of the first to be rebuilt following Quantrill's Raid in 1863 and was home to the Ridenour &amp; Baker grocery store between 1858 and 1888. The building was later home to the Bartelds Seed Company and has been home to Sunflower Outdoor and Bike for the past fifty years. Friedo Barteldes came to Lawrence in 1860 from Germany and opened a bakery that later transitioned into a seed house, serving the community for 100 years.

Ridenour & Baker Store (Bartelds Seed Company) 

Following the 1856 Sack of Lawrence, Josiah Miller, the builder of Miller's Block (known later as the House Building), was one of the five men chosen to request redress from the Federal Government for the 1856 attack on Lawrence by pro-slavery raiders. The resolution, adopted by the group in November 1858 in Lawrence, asserted that Kansas citizens did not start the disturbances, and the Federal Government failed to protect the citizens from the invaders, many of whom were residents of Missouri. Jacob House was inside this building in 1863 when Quantrill's bushwhackers surrounded the structure and forced House to offer directions during their raid which once again brought death and destruction to Lawrence. House's life was spared, but the attack became the most deadly act of terrorism on American soil until the Oklahoma City Bombing. House continued to operate his men's clothing shop - the St. Louis Clothing Store - in the space he leased in 1862 from Josiah Miller until his death in 1913. House was said to be the oldest clothing merchant in the state at that time. He had already involved his son, Robert E. House, in the family business, which was later known as J. House &amp; Son.In 1905, the Sanborn Fire Insurance map shows the clothing store at 729 Massachusetts Street and a music shop at 731. The third floor was used as a meeting hall for an African-American lodge. Robert E. House only lived eight years after his father's death; his widow, Irma, inherited the business in 1921. Irma House had the building's third story removed and remodeled the upstairs offices; she had the name "HOUSE" added to the second story of the main facade.After the renovations, the House clothing store continued to occupy the 729 Massachusetts Street location under new ownership and a new name. The 731 space next door was the location of Clarence "Swede" Wilson's billiard parlor from 1913 to 1944. The second-floor office spaces were quickly leased to lawyers J. B. Wilson and F.B. Dodds, who stayed in the building until the 1940s. A dentist, Dr. Edward Bumgardner, opened his office upstairs and it remained there into the 1920s.R.C. Miller bought the building from Irma House in 1936 and operated a furniture store there until 1946. The building is currently managed by Kanwaka, LLC, who has an office on the second floor at 729 - 1/2, Suite 208. The House Building is listed for sale, with nearly 11,000 square feet, with 17 office spaces upstairs. The price has been reduced and is now just under 1.7 million dollars. J. Lynn Bridal and a local stationery store, Ruff House Paperie, with four vintage letterpress machines, lease the ground floor commercial spaces. If you visit J. Lynn Bridal, say hi to their welcoming committee, Pumpkin, a French bulldog. The Ruff House folks named their store after their Great Dane, Jack. I think he lives at their home, not the shop.The House Building is a contributing resource in the Lawrence's Downtown Historic District, listed in the National Register in 2004. The building has been listed individually in the Register of Historic Kansas Places as of 2000.

Constructed by Josiah Miller from 1858 to 1860, the House Building was located in the center of Lawrence in the territorial period. Miller acquired town lot 35 and built this commercial structure on Massachusetts Street. A leader in the effort to attract settlers to the Kansas Territory, Miller was one of five Lawrence men who petitioned the government for protection following the 1856 Sack of Lawrence. Miller also became the postmaster and built this three-story structure as part of the effort to bring commerce to the Central Plains. In 1860, Miller added an identical structure on the north half of the lot, creating a 50-foot-wide frontage known as the "Miller Block." The southern half of the building was leased to Jacob House for his gentlemen's clothing store in 1862. When Lawrence was again attacked by proslavery men in 1863, House was in the structure and Quantrill's Raiders forced him at gunpoint to serve as a local guide. Miller later leased the north half to Joseph Wharton who set up a dry goods and groceries store. Jacob House's daughter-in-law remodeled the building into a two-story structure with office space above in the early 1920s. The building has housed many businesses and upstairs offices over the years and was listed for sale in 2019.

The House Building and Miller Block

The third hotel build at this location-the Eldridge Hotel-was a leading Lawrence institution, as well as one of the finest in the state through the early 1900s. By the 1920s, however, the historic hotel lacked modern amenities and was beginning to show its age. In response, Lawrence businessmen under the leadership of Billy Hutson worked to construct a modern hotel at this location. The 4th hotel built at this location, the new Eldridge Hotel survived the lean years of the Great Depression but was once again in danger as consumer tastes shifted away from downtown luxury hotels in the late 1950s and 1960s.The rise of inexpensive "motor lodges" proved more destructive to the hotel than Quantrill's raiders, and the Eldridge Hotel appeared to be gone forever when it closed its doors for the last time. According to the hotel website, this full-service establishment had never been closed before and a lock had to be made for it's front door. The building was converted to apartments, housing graduate students and others through the mid-1980s.Fortunately for those in downtown Lawrence, and the future of the hotel, the city of Lawrence continued to invest heavily in its downtown. The city also avoided the trend of creating shopping malls-a decision that allowed Lawrence's downtown to thrive while other downtowns throughout the nation stagnated in the 1970s and 1980s. With the city's continued support of the downtown area, Lawrence business leaders saw the potential of creating a hotel as unique as its own downtown. In response, area developers purchased the historic building and brought the Eldridge Hotel back to life.

The Eldridge Hotel stands on the site of the former Free State Hotel. One of the first buildings in Lawrence, the Free State Hotel was built in 1855 and the hotel's name reflected the politics of its founders during the time period known as Bleeding Kansas. The original hotel was set on fire in 1856 by pro-slavery Sheriff Sam Jones and his men during their attack on Lawrence. A new four-story hotel was rebuilt in 1857. Colonel Shalor Eldridge, the hotel's owner and avowed Free Stater, vowed that every time the structure was destroyed he would "rebuild and add a story to it." On August 21, 1863, Quantrill's men raided Lawrence. They targeted the hotel because it was considered the seat of free-state activity. The Provost Marshall of Kansas, Alexander R.Banks, displayed a white sheet outside his window, declaring sanctuary for those inside the hotel. Quantrill's raiders burned the hotel but did not kill the occupants. Col. Eldridge immediately started rebuilding but was unable to keep his promise to add a story. The resulting three-story hotel lasted until 1924 when it was demolished to make way for the present five-story hotel built by then-owner W. G. Hutson. Each August 21, the anniversary of the raid, a white sheet is displayed from a window.

Eldridge Hotel, Former Site of the Free State Hotel

The Confederacy commissioned William Quantril to assemble a band of guerrilla soldiers in 1861, and two years later, they attacked an unsuspecting Lawrence, a hub of abolitionism in Kansas. The bushwhacker soldiers burned much of the town and killed nearly more than 150 males above the age of fifteen. Many who avoided death took refuge in a woody ravine in what is now Watson Park. Lawrence enjoyed a reputation for being home to an abundance of anti-slavery activists. Locals routinely harbored fugitive and newly freed slaves. Moreover, Lawrence native James Lane (an eventual U.S. Senator) led regiments that burned and looted Osceola and other nearby Missouri communities. Thus, Quantrill targeted Lawrence. At 5 a.m. on August 21, 1863, Quantrill and his guerrilla soldiers stormed the town. They burned much of Lawrence to the ground and killed more than 150 (possibly as many as 190) men and teenage boys, roughly one-quarter of the male population older than fifteen. By the late morning, eighty-five women went from married to widows, and 250 children became fatherless. Lane survived by hiding in a cornfield, but numerous others hid in a woody ravine where Watson Park now lays; the ravine separated Lawrence from West Lawrence. Although some of the bushwhackers shot into the ravine, its high banks and single bridge made it an effective spot to avoid gunfire. The Confederate troops chose instead to cross the bridge into West Lawrence to target many of the city's notable citizens.

William Quantril served as a Confederate officer in charge of guerrilla-style troops that led a bloody and devastating raid on Lawrence in 1863; many survivors took refuge in a woody ravine in what is now Watson Park. The ravine in 1863 acted as a physical barrier that separated downtown from West Lawrence. It had steep banks and only one small bridge spanning it. While some of Quantrill's men rode along the edge of the ravine and shot into it, most others crossed the bridge into West Lawrence where they killed several of its prominent residents.

The Ravine: A Refuge for Lawrencians

Fifty years after Quantrill's Raid, which occurred before daybreak on August 21, 1863, Jetta Dix discussed what she witnessed at her home, including watching her brother-in-law and husband die. The raid resulted in the deaths of more than 150 men and teenage boys and the destruction of the majority of the town, mainly due to fire. Seen as a leader by the Confederacy, they commissioned William Quantrill in 1861 as an officer under the Partisan Ranger Act, which authorized the formation of guerrilla military groups. For several months in 1863, Quantrill and his men planned an attack on Lawrence, a hub of abolitionism in Kansas. Indeed, several members of the New England Emigrant Aid Society ostensibly founded Lawrence and actively sought to thwart the westward advancement of slavery. Moreover, Lawrence harbored fugitive slaves, welcomed freed slaves, and stood as the site of the enlistment of Black troops. Lastly, Lawrence was the home of James Lane (an eventual U.S. Senator), who led regiments that burned and looted Osceola and other nearby Missouri communities.At 5 a.m. on August 21, 1863, with the sun merely peeking above the horizon, yelling and gunfire awakened Jetta Dix. Jetta had come to the U.S. from Ireland as a six-year-old with her father. In 1858, at age 17 or 18, she moved to Lawrence. One year later, she married Ralph, who had come to Lawrence from Connecticut in 1855. Ralph worked as a blacksmith and operated a carriage shop near downtown Lawrence. Jetta, the mother of three young children and a boarding-house operator (third floor of their home), looked out the windows and saw the devastation unfolding. Jetta noticed Governor Charles Robinson's office on fire and then witnessed one of Quantrill's men shooting and killing the owner of the Eldridge House hotel. She saw men on horseback riding up and down the streets, yelling and shooting their pistols and rifles; Quantrill had ordered his men to shoot any man or boy old enough to carry a weapon. Jetta begged her husband to run away and hide, but Ralph chose to wait, believing he and other Lawrence residents could seek refuge in an arsenal about a block from their home. Ralph Dix also hoped they could arm themselves and fight back. Unfortunately, Dix and the others discovered the town's arsenal was locked, leaving Lawrence residents defenseless.Meanwhile, Jetta hid her children in a coal shed, watched by their African American nurse, and wandered outside to see what was happening. She saw men jumping from the windows of the nearby Johnson House (hotel), only to be shot as they attempted to run away. Jetta remarked that it felt like guerrillas were coming in every direction, and dead bodies lay in the streets. The horror pushed Jetta to rush home to warn her husband and others to stay inside and hide. Unfortunately, she returned too late. By the time she returned, raiders had already shot her brother-in-law, Frank Dix. Jetta unsuccessfully tried to protect Ralph by standing between William Quantrill's men and her husband. But, Jetta stumbled after tripping on a rock after one of Quantrill's men rode his horse into her, leaving Ralph unguarded and providing an opportunity for the guerrilla soldier to shoot and kill him. Just four hours after Quantrill and his men began their attack, the town lay in ruins. The raiders burned most of the buildings in Lawrence to the ground, and they killed more than 150 men and boys, resulting in 85 widows and 250 fatherless children (including Jetta and her kids).

Now home to the downtown library, this was the site of a hotel known as the Johnson House as well as the home of the Ralph and Jetta Dix family in the early 1860s. It was here where Jetta Dix watched Quantrill's men kill her husband, Ralph Dix, and her brother-in-law. Four hours after Jetta was awoken by gunfire and screaming, the raid was over and she and eighty-four other women became widows while her children were among the 250 children in Lawrence who were left fatherless.

Dix Home

In 1861, the Confederacy commissioned William Quantril as an officer under the Partisan Ranger Act which authorized the formation of guerrilla military groups. Quantrill and his men soon set their sights on attacking Lawrence. The town's founders were members of the New England Emigrant Aid Society, whose mission included actively blocking the westward advancement of slavery. Moreover, Lawrence harbored fugitive slaves, welcomed freed slaves, and played an active role in enlisting Black troops. Lastly, Lawrence was the home of James Lane an eventual U.S. Senator who led "Jayhawkers" that burned and looted Osceola, Missouri, and other nearby towns. So, at 5 a.m. on August 21, 1863, after months of planning, Quantrill and his guerrilla troops stormed into Lawrence. In a span of four hours, they killed at least 150 men and teenage boys and burned much of the town to the ground. The First United Methodist Church on Vermont Street stood as one of the few structures spared during the raid. Two circuit-riding Methodist ministers organized First United shortly after the founding of Lawrence, Kansas, in 1854. Three years later, in 1855, They constructed a church building at 724 Vermont Street. After the 1863 raid, First United served the town as a morgue and triage center.The congregation subsequently moved to a new brick church in 1865 and then to its present location (946 Vermont St) in 1891. The historic old church building served other congregations for decades before being converted into a residence. By the 1940s, the town no longer deemed the original church structure safe nor worthy of repair. They viewed the property as significant as the structure; thus, the old church was torn down. Still, while the structure is gone, the plaque reminds onlookers that in the aftermath of Quantrill's raid, survivors transported hundreds of injured and dead bodies to the historic location.

A small bronze plaque located at 724 Vermont Street (on a wall adjacent to the bus stop) marks the original location of the First United Methodist Church. The church doubled as a morgue and triage camp after "Quantrill's Raid" on August 21, 1863. The church was one of the few structures spared during the raid. In addition to destroying most of Lawrence's structures by fire, General William Quantrill and 400 bushwhacker troops killed at least 150 men and teenage boys. The church building lasted until the 1940s while the congregation moved to a new brick church in 1865 and then to their present location on Vermont Street in 1891.

Quantrill's Raid Downtown Walking Tour

White Recruits Camp

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