William Quantrill

William Quantrill
Birth name	William Clarke Quantrill
Born	(1837-07-31)July 31, 1837 Canal Dover (now Dover), Ohio
Died	June 6, 1865(1865-06-06) (aged 27) Louisville, Kentucky
Buried	St. John's Catholic Cemetery Louisville, Kentucky
Allegiance	Confederate States of America
Service / branch	Confederate States Army Quantrill's Raiders
Years of service	1861–1865
Battles / wars	American Civil War Battle of Wilson's Creek First Battle of Lexington First Battle of Independence Lawrence Massacre Battle of Baxter Springs

William Clarke Quantrill (July 31, 1837 – June 6, 1865) was a Confederate guerrilla leader during the American Civil War.

Quantrill experienced a turbulent childhood, became a schoolteacher, and joined a group of bandits who roamed the Missouri and Kansas countryside to apprehend escaped slaves. The group became irregular pro-Confederate soldiers called Quantrill's Raiders, a partisan ranger outfit best known for its often brutal guerrilla tactics in defense of their ability to own humans as property and torture them to compel their obedience, and including the young Jesse James and his older brother Frank James.

Quantrill was influential to many bandits, outlaws, and hired guns of the American frontier as it was being settled. On August 21, 1863, Quantrill's Raiders committed the Lawrence Massacre. In May 1865, Quantrill was mortally wounded in combat by U.S. troops in Central Kentucky in one of the last engagements of the American Civil War. He died of his wounds in June 1865.