Quantrill's Raid the Lawrence Massacre self guided tour

Quantrill's Raid The Lawrence Massacre
Battle of Lawrence

Self guided tour
Lawrence Convention and Visitors Bureau
402 North 2nd Street
Lawrence, KS 66044
785.856.3040

G, H, Sargent's headstone in Lawrence, Kansas

When the Kansas Territory was opened to settlement in 1854, abolitionists from New England rushed to the area in an effort to keep the territory from becoming pro slavery. Lawrence, Kansas was founded by the anti-slavery Massachusetts Emigrant Aid Society which was formed in 1854 and aided many emigrants to Kansas and Nebraska. Lawrence wasn't just a destination, but also a center from which the emigrants proceed.

Lawrence grew into an important stop on the Underground Railroad and Kansas Jayhawkers fought several times with pro slavery Bushwhackers from Missouri. One significant local clash was in 1856. Others were further south and involved people like John Brown and his family in places like Osawatomie.

The conflict intensified when the the start of the Civil War, when Kansas became a free state

The most famous of these battles was on August 21, 1863, when William Quantrill (a former Lawrence school teacher) lead 400 Missouri men into Lawrence. They were intent on burning every house and killing every man. Around 200 men were killed that day.

The stops on the Quantrill's Lawrence Raid tour tell many of stories of the events on that day. The 90 minute to 2 hour tour begins at the Miller Farm, near where the first person was killed and ends at Oak Hill Cemetery.

The Lawrence Convention and Visitor's Bureau prepared a self guided tour of the sites involved in Quantrill's Lawrence Raid (the battle of Lawrence). A potion of the original tour is reproduced here. They have since replaced this printed guide with an online guide.

Battle of Quantrill's Lawrence Raid tour map

Pioneer Cemetery on the University of Kansas campus near the Lied Center was opened in 1854 and has
contained the graves of many of those who died in Kansas' pro slavery / anti-slavery clashes.
The dead from the Quantrill's Raid were first buried here. Although most of the graves were later moved
to other cemeteries, at least four gravestones from victims of Quantrill's Raid remain.

743 Indiana was a boarding house at the time of Quantrill's Raid. It was spared when Emily Hoyt, the
landlady, successfully plead that it was her only source of income. Her son was hiding in the cupola.

This house at 1205 Rhode Island is one of several in East Lawrence that survived the raid

Miller House - Lawrence, Kansas
Quantrill's Raiders killed their first victim, Reverend Snyder, while he milked a cow at a farm
next to the Miller House at 1111 E. 19th Street.

Quantrill's raid monument in Lawrence's Oak Hill Cemetery
This monument to the victims of Quantrill's raid is in Lawrence Kansas' Oak Hill Cemetery.

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