By the beginning of the American Civil War, Lawrence was already a target for pro-slavery ire, having been seen as the anti-slavery stronghold in the state and, more importantly, a staging area for Unionist and Jayhawker incursions into Missouri.

[1] Lawrence was a headquarters for a band of Jayhawkers (sometimes called "Red Legs"), who had initiated a campaign in late March 1863 with the purported objective to eliminate civilian support for the Confederate guerrillas.

In describing the activities of these soldiers, U.S. Army General Blunt stated, A reign of terror was inaugurated, and no man's property was safe, nor was his life worth much if he opposed them in their schemes of plunder and robbery.

[2]Many Jayhawker leaders like Charles "Doc" Jennison, James Montgomery, and George Henry Hoyt terrorized Western Missouri, angering both pro-slavery and anti-slavery civilians and politicians alike.

[15] Rumors circulated (later promulgated by Bingham who held a personal grudge against Ewing and who would seek financial compensation for the loss of the building) that the guards undermined the structure to cause its collapse.

Quantrill had gained the confidence of many of the leaders of independent Bushwhacker groups and chose the day and time of the attack well in advance.

While Thompson and the man on the chaise were able to gather some Eudorans to ride into Lawrence to warn the city to the west, none of them made it in time.

[20] Around 450 guerrillas arrived on the outskirts of Lawrence shortly after 5 a.m. A small squad was dispatched to the summit of Mount Oread to serve as lookouts, and the remainder rode into town.

One of the first deaths was the pastor and lieutenant of the 2nd Kansas Colored Regiment,[21] Samuel S. Snyder, who was outside milking his cows when he was shot by the passing raiders, who were making their way into town.

[26] However, a squad of soldiers temporarily stationed in Lawrence had returned to Fort Leavenworth, and due to the surprise, swiftness, and fury of the initial assault, the local militia was unable to assemble and mount a defense.

Because revenge was a principal motive for the attack, Quantrill's raiders entered Lawrence with lists of men to be killed and buildings to be burned.

Lane was a military leader and chief political proponent of the jayhawking raids that had cut a swath of death, plundering, and arson through western Missouri (including the destruction of Osceola) in the early months of the Civil War.

[29]) Speer's youngest son, 15-year-old Billy, may have been included on the death lists, but Quantrill's men released him after he gave them a false name.

[31] This according to Richard Cordley, a minister in Lawrence and a survivor of the attack: Ex-Governor Charles Robinson was an object of special search among them.

"[citation needed] While many of the victims had been specifically targeted beforehand, executions were more indiscriminate among segments of the raiders, particularly Todd's band that operated in the western part of Lawrence.

The raid devolved into extreme brutality; according to witnesses, the raiders murdered a group of men and their sons who had surrendered under assurances of safety, murdered a father who was in a field with his son, shot a defenseless man who was lying sick in bed, killed an injured man who was being held by his pleading wife, and bound a pair of men and forced them into a burning building where they slowly burned to death.

[35]Many have characterized Quantrill's decision to kill young boys alongside adult men as a particularly reprehensible aspect of the raid.

[41] Once the confederates withdrew to the southeast, Lane led a small group of survivors of the massacre in pursuit of Quantrill's men and was joined by a force of about 200 U.S. Army cavalrymen, commanded by Major Preston B. Plumb.

[42] Cordley, the pastor at Plymouth, said to his congregation a few days after the attack, "My friends, Lawrence may seem dead, but she will rise again in a more glorious resurrection.

11 (not to be confused with Grant's infamous General Order of the same name) evicting thousands of Missourians in four counties from their homes near the Kansas border.

They left four counties in western Missouri wasted, save for the standing brick chimneys of the two-story period houses, which are still called "Jennison Monuments" in those parts.

[citation needed] George Miller, a Missouri abolitionist and preacher, described the role of the Lawrence Massacre in the region's descent into the horror of total war on the civilian populations of both eastern Kansas and western Missouri: Viewed in any light, the Lawrence Raid will continue to be held, as the most infamous event of the uncivil war!

The cowardly criminality of this spiteful reciprocity lay in the fact that each party knew, but did not care, that the consequences of their violent acts would fall most heavily upon their own helpless friends.

Quantrell [sic] in 1863 rushed into Lawrence, Kansas, when there was no danger, and killed and robbed and sneaked off with his spoils, leaving helpless women and children of his own side to bear the dreadful vengeance invoked by that raid.

So the Lawrence raid was followed by swift and cruel retribution, falling, as usual in this border warfare, upon the innocent and helpless, rather than the guilty ones.

Unarmed old men and boys were accused and shot down, and homes with their now meagre comforts were burned, and helpless women and children turned out with no provision for the approaching winter.