Editing William Quantrill (section)

==Early life==
William Quantrill was born at [[Canal Dover]], [[Ohio]], on July 31, 1837. His father was Thomas Henry Quantrill, formerly of [[Hagerstown, Maryland]], and his mother, Caroline Cornelia Clark, was a native of [[Chambersburg, Pennsylvania]]. William was the oldest of twelve children, four of whom died in infancy.<ref>Edward E. Leslie, ''The Devil Knows How to Ride'', Random House, 1996. pp. 406–406, 410</ref> Quantrill taught school in Ohio when he was sixteen.<ref name=cyclopedia>{{cite book|editor1-last=Blackmar|editor1-first=Frank|title=Kansas: A Cyclopedia of State History, Embracing Events, Institutions, Industries, Counties, Cities, Towns, Prominent Persons, Etc.|date=1912|publisher=Standard Publishing Company|url=http://www.ksgenweb.org/archives/1912/q/quantrill_william_clarke.html|chapter=Quantrill, William|page=524|access-date=June 1, 2018|archive-date=June 25, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190625064826/http://www.ksgenweb.org/archives/1912/q/quantrill_william_clarke.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1854, his abusive father died of [[tuberculosis]], leaving the family with a huge financial debt. Quantrill's mother turned the home into a boarding house to survive. During this time, Quantrill helped support the family by working as a schoolteacher, but he left home a year later for [[Mendota, Illinois]].<ref name="GGC">{{cite book | first=Richard | last=Brownlee | title=Gray Ghosts of the Confederacy | publisher=[[Library of Congress]] | date=1958 | url=https://archive.org/details/grayghostsofthec000014mbp | via=[[Internet Archive]] | access-date=December 25, 2023}}</ref>{{rp|54}} There, Quantrill worked in the lumberyards, unloading timber from rail cars.

Authorities briefly arrested him for murder, but Quantrill claimed he had acted in self-defense. Quantrill was set free since there were no eyewitnesses, and the victim was a stranger who knew no one in town. Nevertheless, the police strongly urged him to leave Mendota. Quantrill continued teaching, moving to [[Fort Wayne, Indiana]], in February 1856. Quantrill journeyed back home to Canal Dover late that year.<ref name="GGC"/>{{rp|55}}

Quantrill spent the winter in his family's diminutive shack in the impoverished town and soon grew restless. Many Ohioans migrated to the [[Kansas Territory]] for cheap land and opportunity. This included Henry Torrey and Harmon Beeson, two local men hoping to build a large farm for their families out west. Although they mistrusted the 19-year-old Quantrill, his mother's pleadings persuaded them to let Quantrill accompany them to turn his life around.{{CN|date=April 2025}} The party of three departed in late February 1857. Torrey and Beeson agreed to pay for Quantrill's land in exchange for Quantrill working for them. They settled along the [[Marais des Cygnes River]], but a dispute arose over the claim, and Quantrill sued Torrey and Beeson. The court awarded Quantrill $63, but he was only paid half of this amount. Quantrill later attempted to rectify this by stealing oxen, firearms, and blankets from Beeson, but he was caught and returned the oxen and weapons; the blankets were not found until later, by which time they had rotted. Afterwards, Beeson became hostile towards Quantrill, but Quantrill remained friends with Torrey.<ref>Edward E. Leslie, ''The Devil Knows How to Ride'', Random House, 1996. pp. 49–51 </ref>

Soon, Quantrill accompanied a large group of hometown friends in their quest to settle near Tuscarora Lake. However, neighbors soon began to notice Quantrill stealing goods out of other people's cabins and banished him from the community in January 1858.{{Citation needed|date=January 2023}} Soon thereafter, Quantrill signed on as a teamster with the US Army expedition heading to [[Salt Lake City, Utah]] in early 1858. Quantrill's journey out west is little known except that he excelled at poker. Quantrill racked up piles of winnings by playing the game against his comrades at [[Fort Bridger]] but lost it all on one hand, leaving him broke. Quantrill then joined a group of Missouri ruffians and became a drifter. The group helped protect pro-slavery Missouri farmers from the [[Jayhawker]]s for pay and slept wherever they could find lodging. Quantrill traveled back to Utah and then to Colorado but returned in less than a year to [[Lawrence, Kansas]], in 1859<ref>Edward E. Leslie, ''The Devil Knows How to Ride'', Random House, 1996</ref> where he taught at a schoolhouse until it closed in 1860. Quantrill then partnered with [[brigands]] and turned to cattle rustling and anything else to earn him money. Quantrill also learned the profitability of capturing runaway slaves and devised plans to use free black men as bait for runaway slaves, whom he subsequently captured and returned to their enslavers in exchange for reward money.{{Citation needed|reason=unsourced|date=July 2019}}

Before 1860, Quantrill appeared to oppose slavery. He wrote to his good friend W.W. Scott in January 1858 that the [[Lecompton Constitution]] was a "swindle" and that [[James Henry Lane (Union general)|James Henry Lane]], a Northern sympathizer, was "as good a man as we have here". He also called the Democrats "the worst men we have for they are all rascals, for no one can be a democrat here without being one".<ref>William Connelley, ''Quantrill and the Border Wars'', Pageant Book Co, 1956, pp. 72–74</ref> However, in February 1860, Quantrill wrote a letter to his mother that expressed his views on the anti-slavery supporters. Quantrill told her that slavery was right and that he detested Jim Lane. He said that the hanging of [[John Brown (abolitionist)|John Brown]] had been too good for him and that "the devil has got unlimited sway over this territory, and will hold it until we have a better set of man and society generally."<ref>William Connelley, ''Quantrill and the Border Wars'', Pageant Book Co, 1956, pp. 94–96. "My Dear Mother", February 8, 1860</ref>