March 28, 1864 – Brigadier General (CSA) Henry Eustace McCulloch
arrested Captain William Clarke Quantrill, leader of Missouri guerrillas, and menace to North Texas, at his headquarters in Bonham, Texas.
Quantrill, who led his forces in the burning of Lawrence, Kansas in 1863
was the leader of guerrillas who had been terrorizing citizens in North Texas for the past three to four months.
From several different sources the story of the arrest and his escape is as follows:
Captain Quantrill arrested one of his men for killing Confederate Major Butts and robbing his personal effects north of Sherman, Texas. Quantrill had armed guards escort the soldier/guerrilla to BG McCulloch in Bonham, Texas
This soldier, when questioned by the general, informed BG McCulloch of numerous other crimes that Quantrill had authorized throughout north Texas.
BG McCulloch directed Captain Quantrill to report to his headquarters. Quantrill was arrested once inside the headquarters based on the information of the soldier Captain Quantrill had placed under arrest. When Quantrill refused to dine with the General (after he had just been arrested), he was confined to the General’s office.
Quantrill was able to escape by outwitting the guards, gaining his weapons and fleeing the town. Confederate soldiers chased him as far as the Red river. Quantrill and his guerrillas crossed into the Indian Nations where the Confederate soldiers had no authority.
BG Henry Eutace McCulloch survived the war and lived out his life in Texas. Captain William Clarke Quantrill was mortally wounded in Missouri in May, 1865.
Information on General McCulloch and his soldiers, Quantrill and his guerrillas, The Civil War or The Missouri-Kansas Border War is available for research here in the Genealogy Center.
While here you can research Union and Confederate Soldiers; citizens and soldiers from Bonham, and Fannin County, Texas; Plano, and Collin County, Texas and several other counties in Texas. Materials are available for your research of individuals involved in, or victims of, The Missouri-Kansas Border war.
Should your interests be in other areas, our collection includes all 50 states and several foreign countries as well as immigration, colonization and other military records.
You may find you are related to a soldier who fought with or against Quantrill and his raiders.
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