Sacking of Osceola

Last updated
Sacking of Osceola
Part of the American Civil War
DateSeptember 23, 1861
Location
Result

Union victory

  • Plundering and burning of Osceola
  • 200 slaves freed
Belligerents
Flag of the United States (1861-1863).svg Kansas Irregular Jayhawkers Flag of the Confederate States of America (July 1861 - November 1861).svg Citizens of Osceola
Commanders and leaders
James H. Lane unknown
Strength
Kansas Brigadeunknown
Casualties and losses
17 killed
8 wounded
9 executed [1]

The sacking of Osceola was a Kansas Jayhawker initiative on September 23, 1861, to push out pro-slavery Southerners at Osceola, Missouri. It was not authorized by Union military authorities but was the work of an informal group of anti-slavery Kansas "Jayhawkers". [2] The town of 2,077 people was plundered and burned to the ground, 200 slaves were freed and nine local citizens were court-martialed and executed. [3]

Contents

Background

Following Sterling Price's Missouri State Guard victory over General Nathaniel Lyon's Union army at the Battle of Wilson's Creek, Price continued to push North through Western Missouri.

Lane moved to intercept the Missouri State Guard, but was defeated by Price at the Battle of Dry Wood Creek. Lane retreated and Price continued his offensive further into Missouri to the Siege of Lexington.

While Price moved North, Lane launched an attack behind him. After crossing the Missouri border at Trading Post, Kansas on September 10, Lane began an offensive moving East on Butler, Harrisonville, Osceola and Clinton, Missouri.

Osceola

The climax of the campaign was on September 23, 1861, at Osceola, where Lane's forces drove off a small Southern force and then looted and burned the town. An artillery battery under Capt. Thomas Moonlight shelled the St. Clair County courthouse. [4] According to reports, many of the Kansans got so drunk that when it came time to leave they were unable to march and had to ride in wagons and carriages. They carried off with them a tremendous load of plunder, including as Lane's personal share a piano and a quantity of silk dresses. Lane led hundreds of slaves to Kansas and freedom. The troops moved northwest and arrived at Kansas City, Missouri, on September 29, to pursue Price as he retreated south through the state.

Osceola was captured and then plundered, with Lane's men freeing 200 slaves and taking 350 horses, 400 cattle, 3,000 bags of flour, and quantities of supplies from all the town shops and stores as well as carriages and wagons. Nine local men were rounded up, given a quick drumhead court-martial trial, and executed. All but three of the town's 800 buildings burned; the town never fully recovered. [2] [5]

Aftermath

Lane's raid stirred hatred that led to William Quantrill's raid on Lawrence, Kansas, [6] leading in turn to the depopulation of four counties of western Missouri under General Order No. 11. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Osceola, Missouri</span> City in Missouri, United States

Osceola is a city in St. Clair County, Missouri, United States. The population was 909 at the 2020 census. It is the county seat of St. Clair County. During the American Civil War, Osceola was the site of the Sacking of Osceola.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Border states (American Civil War)</span> Slave states that did not secede from the Union during the American Civil War

In the context of the American Civil War (1861–65), the border states were slave states that did not secede from the Union. They were Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri, and after 1863, the new state of West Virginia. To their north they bordered free states of the Union, and all but Delaware bordered slave states of the Confederacy to their south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quantrill's Raiders</span> Pro-Confederate partisan guerrillas in the American Civil War

Quantrill's Raiders were the best-known of the pro-Confederate partisan guerrillas who fought in the American Civil War. Their leader was William Quantrill and they included Jesse James and his brother Frank.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Quantrill</span> American Confederate guerrilla leader (1837–1865)

William Clarke Quantrill was a Confederate guerrilla leader during the American Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Lane (politician)</span> American politician and military officer (1814–1866)

Brigadier-General James Henry Lane was an American politician and military officer who was a leader of the Jayhawkers in the Bleeding Kansas period that immediately preceded the American Civil War. During the war itself, Lane served in the United States Senate and as a general officer in the Union Army. Although reelected as a Senator in 1865, Lane died by suicide the next year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lawrence Massacre</span> Raid in the American Civil War

The Lawrence Massacre was an attack during the American Civil War (1861–65) by Quantrill's Raiders, a Confederate guerrilla group led by William Quantrill, on the Unionist town of Lawrence, Kansas, killing around 150 unarmed men and boys.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William T. Anderson</span> Confederate guerrilla fighter

William T. Anderson, known by the nickname "Bloody Bill" Anderson, was a soldier who was one of the deadliest and most notorious Confederate guerrilla leaders in the American Civil War. Anderson led a band of volunteer partisan raiders who targeted Union loyalists and federal soldiers in the states of Missouri and Kansas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Border ruffian</span> Proslavery Missourian raiders within Kansas Territory

Border ruffians were proslavery raiders who crossed into the Kansas Territory from Missouri during the mid-19th century to help ensure the territory entered the United States as a slave state. Their activities formed a major part of a series of violent civil confrontations known as "Bleeding Kansas", which peaked from 1854 to 1858. Crimes committed by border ruffians included electoral fraud, intimidation, assault, property damage and murder; many border ruffians took pride in their reputation as criminals. After the outbreak of the American Civil War in 1861, many border ruffians fought on the side of the Confederate States of America as irregular bushwhackers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jayhawker</span> Became synonymous with the people of Kansas during the Bleeding Kansas period of the 1850s

Jayhawker and red leg are terms that came to prominence in Kansas Territory during the Bleeding Kansas period of the 1850s; they were adopted by militant bands affiliated with the free-state cause during the American Civil War. These gangs were guerrillas who often clashed with pro-slavery groups from Missouri, known at the time in Kansas Territory as "Border Ruffians" or "Bushwhackers". After the Civil War, the word "Jayhawker" became synonymous with the people of Kansas, or anybody born in Kansas. Today a modified version of the term, Jayhawk, is used as a nickname for a native-born Kansan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kansas Jayhawks</span> Intercollegiate sports teams of the University of Kansas

The Kansas Jayhawks, commonly referred to as simply KU or Kansas, are the athletic teams that represent the University of Kansas. KU is one of three schools in the state of Kansas that participate in NCAA Division I. The Jayhawks are also a member of the Big 12 Conference. KU athletic teams have won fifteen national championships all-time, with twelve of those being NCAA Division I championships: four in men's basketball, one in men's cross country, three in men's indoor track and field, three in men's outdoor track and field, and one in women's outdoor track and field. Kansas basketball also won two Helms Foundation National Titles in 1922 and 1923, and KU Bowling won the USBC National Title in 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">General Order No. 11 (1863)</span> American Union Army forced resettlement directive

General Order No. 11 is the title of a Union Army directive issued during the American Civil War on August 25, 1863, forcing the abandonment of rural areas in four counties in western Missouri. The order, issued by Union General Thomas Ewing, Jr., affected all rural residents regardless of their allegiance. Those who could prove their loyalty to the Union were permitted to stay in the affected area, but had to leave their farms and move to communities near military outposts. Those who could not do so had to vacate the area altogether.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bushwhacker</span> Form of guerrilla warfare during the American Revolutionary War, and American Civil War

Bushwhacking was a form of guerrilla warfare common during the American Revolutionary War, War of 1812, American Civil War and other conflicts in which there were large areas of contested land and few governmental resources to control these tracts. This was particularly prevalent in rural areas during the Civil War where there were sharp divisions between those favoring the Union and Confederacy in the conflict. The perpetrators of the attacks were called bushwhackers. The term "bushwhacking" is still in use today to describe ambushes done with the aim of attrition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Missouri in the American Civil War</span> Events within the borders of the U.S. state between 1861 and 1865

During the American Civil War, Missouri was a hotly contested border state populated by both Union and Confederate sympathizers. It sent armies, generals, and supplies to both sides, maintained dual governments, and endured a bloody neighbor-against-neighbor intrastate war within the larger national war.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kansas in the American Civil War</span> Union state in the American Civil War

At the outbreak of the American Civil War in April 1861, Kansas was the newest U.S. state, admitted just months earlier in January. The state had formally rejected slavery by popular vote and vowed to fight on the side of the Union, though ideological divisions with neighboring Missouri, a slave state, had led to violent conflict in previous years and persisted for the duration of the war.

Hickman Mills is a neighborhood of Kansas City, Missouri in the Kansas City metropolitan area. There is good access to the Interstate and Federal highway system, with I-435, I-470, and US-71/I-49 running through the area, including the Grandview Triangle. It also includes Longview Lake and Longview Community College. It is covered by the Hickman Mills C-1 School District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Montgomery (soldier)</span> Union Army officer in the American Civil War

James Montgomery was a Jayhawker during the Bleeding Kansas era and a controversial Union colonel during the American Civil War. Montgomery was a staunch supporter of abolitionist principles and individual liberty. He liberated slaves during his raids. He also burned and looted pro-slavery populations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Border War (Kansas–Missouri rivalry)</span> American college sports rivalry

The Border War is a rivalry between the athletic programs of the University of Kansas and the University of Missouri. It has been officially named the Border Showdown since 2004, and promoted as the Hy-Vee Hoops Border Showdown for basketball games since 2021. The rivalry is more known for football and men's basketball, however, the rivalry exists in all sports. The Kansas Jayhawks and the Missouri Tigers began playing each other in 1891. From 1907 to 2012 both schools were in the same athletic conference and competed annually in all sports. Sports Illustrated described the rivalry as the oldest rivalry west of the Mississippi River in 2011, but went dormant after Missouri departed the Big 12 Conference for the Southeastern Conference on July 1, 2012. Despite Missouri wanting to continue athletic competition, no further regular season games were scheduled between the two schools for several years. However, the two schools played an exhibition game in men's basketball on October 22, 2017, with Kansas defeating Missouri 93–87. Proceeds went to four different charities for Hurricane Harvey and Hurricane Maria relief funds. On October 21, 2019, the schools agreed to play six basketball games beginning in 2020, however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the renewal was postponed one season. Then, on May 2, the schools made an agreement for football games to be played in 2025, 2026, 2031, and 2032. On December 11, 2021, the rivalry was renewed in Allen Fieldhouse, when the Jayhawks beat the Tigers 102–65.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles R. Jennison</span>

Charles Rainsford Jennison also known as "Doc" Jennison was a member of the anti-slavery faction during Bleeding Kansas, a famous Jayhawker, and a member of the Kansas State Senate in the 1870s. He later served as a Union colonel and as a leader of Jayhawker militias during the American Civil War.

William Weer was a lawyer, attorney general for Kansas and an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War. He is notable for his service in the Trans-Mississippi Theater early in the war and later for being dismissed from the army following a court-martial.

The skirmish near Brooklyn, Kansas was a skirmish of the American Civil War on August 21, 1863, between Quantrill's Raiders and pursuing Union forces immediately after the Lawrence massacre. James Henry Lane led a small group of survivors of the massacre in pursuit of Quantrill's men, and were joined by a force of about 200 Union Army cavalrymen, commanded by Major Preston B. Plumb. Lane's and Plumb's men fought with Quantrill's Raiders to the south of the town of Brooklyn, Kansas, which the raiders had burned. The Confederates began to panic, but a charge led by George Todd halted the Union pursuit. Quantrill's men escaped across the state line into Missouri and then scattered; a few were later caught and executed.

References

  1. Sunderwith, Richard (2013). The Burning of Osceola, Missouri.
  2. 1 2 Spurgeon, Ian (2009). Man of Douglas, man of Lincoln: the political odyssey of James Henry Lane. University of Missouri Press. pp. 185–188.
  3. "State of Missouri Table No. 1 - Population by Age and Sex" (PDF). US Census.
  4. Castel, Albert (1959). ""KANSAS JAYHAWKING RAIDS INTO WESTERN MISSOURI IN 1861"". Return to Civil War St. Louis. Retrieved 2022-08-23.
  5. Petersen, Paul R. (2003). Quantrill of Missouri: The Making of a Guerrilla Warrior – The Man, the Myth, the Soldier. pp. 61–62.
  6. Castel, Albert E. (1999). William Clarke Quantrill: His Life and Times. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press. p. 142.
  7. Coffey, Walter (2012). The Civil War Months: A Month-By-Month Compendium of the War Between the States By Walter Coffey. Bloomington, IN: AuthorHouse. p. 207. ISBN   9781468580211.

38°2′47″N93°41′58″W / 38.04639°N 93.69944°W / 38.04639; -93.69944