Watkins Museum of History
Watkins Museum of History
SITE
1047 Massachusetts St.
Lawrence, KS 66044
Tuesday-Saturday: 10am-4pm
Monday-Sunday: CLOSED
Artifacts and interactives related to Bleeding Kansas, Quantrill’s Raid during the Civil War, and the fight against slavery
HISTORY
Quantrill's Raid / Lawrence Massacre
The Lawrence Massacre (also known as Quantrill's Raid) 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. The attack, on the morning of Friday August 21, 1863, targeted Lawrence due to the town's long support of abolition and its reputation as a center for the Jayhawkers, who were free-state militia and vigilante groups known for attacking plantations in pro-slavery Missouri's western counties.