Loving Leah by Lynne Larson

Author:Lynne Larson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical;Romance;LDS;Civil;War;Kansas;Mormon;Governess;Zion;Journey;taken;search;pioneer
Publisher: Covenant Communications, Inc.
Published: 2016-03-24T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Two

August 21, 1863—The day would be remembered in the annals of American history as the most brutal attack on a civilian population during the Civil War. The massacre at Lawrence would stain the soul of Kansas, and good people on both sides would look back with shame on what happened there. The carnage was without parallel: 150 men and boys murdered in cold blood, 80 women made widows, 250 children orphaned. Scores of homes and businesses destroyed, a town left reeling, shattered at its heart, wretched in blood and horror.

As we were to learn afterward, the attack had been well planned. From Missouri, William Clarke Quantrill and a column of three hundred men snaked across the border into Kansas, traveling mostly at night and forcing local farmers along the way to guide them. Joined on the road by another troop of 150 Bushwhackers, the army of raiders arrived at dawn on a hill just east of Lawrence. There they paused, some believing the town had surely been warned and was too large and well prepared. Quantrill was of no such mind.

“You can do as you please!” he shouted to his column. “I’m going into Lawrence!” With that, he pulled a revolver from his belt and galloped ahead, yelling, “Kill! Kill! Kill! Lawrence must be cleansed, and the only way to cleanse it is to kill!”

The first man to be shot down was good Reverend Snyder, our pastor from the Briar Street church. He was in his yard milking his cow and was murdered in cold blood as the riders passed his house.

A troop of twenty-two young Union recruits was camped nearby and just waking up. Quantrill’s men galloped into the camp, trampling over those still not out of bed and shooting those who were, killing seventeen of the boys before they could escape. The rampage continued as Quantrill’s men obeyed his orders to “kill every man big enough to carry a gun.” While Quantrill sat down to breakfast at the Eldridge Hotel, his thugs shot every man in sight. Some were shot as they stood at doorways or windows looking out. Others died when the buildings they were hiding in were torched. Prominent men like State Senator Thorp and State Journal editor Mr. Trask were coaxed from their homes with promises of protection and then shot once they were on the street. Dr. Griswald, our druggist, was shot with them. Wives screamed and sobbed and begged for mercy.

The raiders went to Mr. Fitch’s home and shot him when he came downstairs, firing several rounds into him after he was dead. Mr. Fitch was one of the first school teachers in Lawrence, a kind and respected gentleman. The outlaws torched the house, stopping Mrs. Fitch as she tried desperately to pull her husband’s body from the flames.

Two young store clerks, James Perine and James Eldridge, were forced to open the safe where they worked with the promise that their lives would be spared if they did. Instead, they were both murdered after the safe was opened.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.