William Quantrill, alias Captain
Clarke, 4th Mo. Cav., taken here
May 10, 1865 ending four months
Central Kentucky guerrilla raids.
Surrounded in Wakefield’s barn by
Captain Terrill’s 30 Kentuckians.
Quantrill tried escape, mortally
wounded and moved to Louisville
Military Prison Hospital. He died
June 6th, ending career as outlaw,
then guerrilla for the Southern cause.
In Search of Quantrill
The official records of the American civil war is contained in a one hundred and twenty seven volume set of books, and has one whole book which is the index (making the grand total 128 books). The letters and documents contain most of the story about the conflict, though when it comes to the guerillas of southwest Missouri, the deeply personal aspects and secrecy behind the leaders of these operatives, and guerilla soldiers is not enumerated. But as time as passed, generations of descendants, and people asking questions for the sake of deeper research frequently stumble upon new, and sometimes surprising information from this segment of the civil war which has gotten little attention in the past. The name William Clarke Quantrill (Quantrell) conjures up thoughts of hard riding, violent confederate citizen soldiers, who struck fear into the hearts of their enemies by the use of lightning fast raids under the black flag of W.C. Quantrill and guerilla leader, Bloody Bill Anderson and the raid and massacre of Lawrence Kansas, as the war between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions exploded in the west. But the truth is that there's a much deeper story and secrecy behind the guerillas and the whole the truth may never be known. But there are threads of information that are beginning to surface from scattered research. This information which was once isolated and compartmentalized in dusty libraries and is now finding its way onto the internet and providing leads to the libraries and archives that hold the story. My research into another area of the story of the Missouri guerillas, lead me to Augusta (Woodruff County) Arkansas, and another part of the story of William Quantrill. There are many questions in this area, but the deeper I dug, the more apparent it became that the Quantrill story was not complete and the question of his death and burial was at best, cryptic.
Who was William Clarke Quantrill?
"(A civil) War Confederate Renegade. He earned notoriety during the American Civil War as the Confederate leader first of the Missouri Partisan Rangers, then by August 15, 1862, the "Quantrill's Raiders" guerillas. As a soldier, he was known for possessing excellent leadership skills, unmatched horsemanship capabilities, and a knowledge of unique warfare tactics, yet he broke from the Confederate Army, becoming an renegade guerilla fighter with his own agenda."
-Linda Davis ref Find a Grave
How did Quantrill die, and where are his remains buried?
* Editors note: The following information was gathered from various sources, which appeared in the record while in pursuit of another story that intersected with the Quantrill story and its connection to Augusta Arkansas in Woodruff County.
(1) "While attempting an escape on horseback, he was shot with the bullet hitting his spine and paralyzing him from the waist down. He was transferred to the Federal military hospital in Louisville, then to a Catholic Hospital. Lingering for a month, he died at age 27. Following a conversion to Catholicism and receiving last rites in the days prior to his death, he made arrangements with the hospital priest to purchase a plot with a marker for burial in St. Mary's Cemetery. The priest, fearing vandals, ordered the grave restored to a natural condition without a marker, yet this would not be his final resting place. Some twenty years later, the strange odyssey and the disbursement of his bones began. A request was made by his mother and his childhood friend to take his remains back to Ohio, but this was refused. However, the grave was opened upon his mother's agreement and the contents viewed. His friend removed the skull, and his mother identified the remains based on a chipped tooth in the skull. Under cover of darkness, the entire casket was stolen. Upon return to Dover, his remains were interred in the family plot in the Dover 4th St Cemetery, minus the skull and various bones the unscrupulous friend had removed and kept. Eventually, some of the bones were archived at the Kansas State Historical Society, and the skull at the Dover Museum until buried in a separate container in the family plot. Finally, the last of the stolen bones were repatriated by the Missouri Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and interred at the Old Confederate Veteran's Home Cemetery in Higginsville, Missouri."
-Ref -Linda Davis find a grave
(2) "In 1887, a newspaperman and Quantrill's boyhood friend, William W. Scott, dug up the grave at the prompting of Quantrill's mother, a Dover school teacher. He brought the bones back home. Or at least some bones. Experts believe more remain in Kentucky. And what guerilla leader worth his salt is buried in only two places? A Quantrill grave in a Confederate cemetery in Higginsville, Missouri holds still more fragments.
In Dover, Quantrill remains were buried in the Fourth Street Cemetery in 1889 -- maybe. No one knows what was in the box that went into the ground. Scott kept the bone fragments and the skull for himself, unsuccessfully attempting to sell it over the years -- in secret so he wouldn't hurt Mrs. Quantrill's feelings."
(3) The following story appeared in the July-Sept issue of the William Clark Quantrill Society Newsletter:
"August 25, 1921
HOW QUANTRELL DIED. Rev. Thos. Cobb of Lexington and brother of Mrs. Mary Worley of this place is well acquainted with the facts of the case. Rev. Cobb was one of the first recruits to Captain Frank Cockrell's company of the second Missouri Infantry and afterwards transferred into Lyon's cavalry under General Forrest. Sometime ago he told a newspaper reporter the following story. "I knew Captain Horseley intimately. He was my warm friend. I do not believe he made the statement attributed to him in regard to the death of Quantrell. In December 1864, Captain Horseley and myself went into the Southern counties of Kentucky as cavalry recruiting officers under the authority of General Forest, and remained there until 1865, when we surrendered to General John M. Palmer at Louisville...."While in that country we met Quantrell's band and traveled and camped with it for two days and two nights. Quantrell was on his way to West Virginia and Maryland to join Mosby. Horseley and Quantrell had many long talks and Quantrell urged us to go with him. Quantrell did not interfere with the rights of private citizens in that country and had no trouble with Confederate troops. We left him and he continued his march through Kentucky..."When we reached the central counties of Kentucky, General Lee had evacuated Petersburg and was on the retreat and it looked as if the army would surrender. Quantrell therefore stopped his march to await developments. It was then that he had a skirmish with Federal troops, the Twelfth Kentucky Cavalry, and was seriously wounded. He was not known as Quantrell during that expedition but went under the name of Captain Clark...."He was taken to Louisville and placed in a hospital. He sent for a priest when he learned that he would probably not survive his wounds and asked to be sent to the Sister's hospital. There he died and the body was buried in the Catholic cemetery in Louisville as that of Captain Clark...."I was paroled in Louisville about that time by Colonel Folsom. One day Col. Folsom asked me if I knew Quantrell, and I told him i did. Then he asked if I would identify him if alive?" asked Col. Folsom. "No." I replied. I was taken to view a body, but it was not that of Quantrell. But a day or so after, several of Quantrell's men saw the body of their leader in the Sister's hospital and attended his funeral in the Catholic cemetery. This, I believe, is the true story of Quantrell's death and burial.
ODESSA DEMOCRAT."
Ref The William Clarke Quantrill Society
Who Was L.J. Crocker, did William Clarke Quantrill Survive?
*Article by the Author / Editor G.C. Stevens, based on information obtained from the Woodruff County Branch Library, courtesy of Karen Golden Operations Manager, additional article "The Man Who Played Quantrell", By Anne Sanderson Smith.
(4) Coincidentally,
In 1867, another enigmatic figure arrived in Woddruff County and that
was a man identified as Captain L.J. Crocker. When he arrived in
Augusta Arkansas, he was walking down the street, when a man by the
name of Hutchinson saw Crocker, he became agitated and identified
Crocker as the famed civil war guerrilla leader William Quantrill. According
to this story, Captain Crocker downplayed the encounter and explained
that yes, he had been involved with Quantrill and that Hutchison was
the only man to make his escape from the "Gorilla Gang."
Another
witness, by the name Mrs. Watt Keith of the town of Howell-Wiville
tells a story of spending many days in the Crocker home and that
Captain Crocker would talk for hours about his pioneer life, and it
was said that he was never known to have a picture made of himself
and that he died he died in 1905.
But
out of these early stories, rumors and legend began to grow around
Captain L.J. Crocker it was said that Crocker was none other that
the infamous Guerrilla leader, William Clarke Quantrill, The story
however, in this community goes much deeper than mere legend and it
appears that Crocker and Quantrill were connected in many unexpected
ways. The story takes a very strange twist when a man by the name of Mr. Fakes was in St.
Louis in 1904 during the
World's Fair and went to a theater where Frank James was a door man.
He tried to talk to him, but Frank James refused to talk until Mr.
Fakes told him he knew Captain Crocker. Upon hearing Crockers name,
Frank James attitude changed and he opened up to Fake and he admitted
his connection to the story and told of his visit when he was wounded
at the Edmonds home. Though it was suspected for many years, It was
not known for certain until then that the wounded gentleman was Frank
James. Then in 1910, in an open confession to a good friend, W.E.
Ferguson of Woodruff County.
Adding
to this story is an article found on find a grave By author Gary
Telford titled: The Great Quantrill-Crocker Mystery in Augusta,
Arkansas. The author provides a fair summary of the mystery
surrounding L.J. Crocker:
“On
Friday August 21, 1863, in one of the more tragic and senseless acts
of the Civil War, William Clarke Quantrill, an outlaw and
self-appointed Southern officer, and a number of his men raided
Lawrence, Kansas, burning the town, looting the stores and people's
purses, and murdering about 150 men in a wanton slaughter that served
no useful purpose.
They
destroyed about $1,500,000 worth of property. After which the mention
of his name brought terror to Northern sympathizers in Missouri,
Kansas and Kentucky.
Quantrill
led the largest and best-known band of guerrillas in Missouri. Anyone
who wanted to join his band was asked only one question: "Will
you follow orders, be true to your comrades, and kill those who serve
and support the Union?" Frank James and Cole Younger were two of
the people who answered "yes" to this question and joined
Quantrill's Raiders. Whole battalions of Federal troops were sent out
to track Quantrill down and bring him in dead or alive.
Finally
on Wednesday May 10, 1865, in a farm house near Spencer, Kentucky,
Quantrill and a small number of his band were surrounded by Federal
troops. He and his men fought desperately from the windows and
doorways of the house until their ammunition was exhausted.
Quantrill
was badly wounded in the shoulder by a bullet that raged down through
his body, and his left hand was mangled. After the surrender he and
one of his men, who was even more severely wounded, were placed under
guard and taken to a military hospital at Louisville, Kentucky for
treatment, where according to one legend, William Clarke Quantrill
died. The death of Quantrill would effectively close a long and
bloody chapter of guerrilla warfare motivated more by criminal than
patriotic instincts. The legacy of Quantrill's Raiders would long
haunt the hills of Missouri.
"Did
he really die?" Not so, according to another legend; Here is
what really happened.
Quantrill,
who was so badly injured that he lay quietly in his bed, pleaded with
the authorities to let his wife visit him. Finally they agreed. Then
one of the most bizarre escapes in all of American history took
place.
When
Mrs. Quantrill arrived in the hospital room, Quantrill's companion in
the next bed had just died. She and Quantrill stripped the dead man
and dressed the body in Quantrill's uniform and placed it in
Quantrill's bed. Then Quantrill himself put on his wife's clothes.
She in turn put on the dead man's clothes, was gagged and tied, and
lay down in the dead man's bed. Quantrill, dressed as a woman, walked
out a free man. Mrs. Quantrill was later discovered bound and gagged,
gasping she had found her husband dead in his bed and had been
attacked by the other man in the room who made her exchange clothes
with him and then gagged and tied her up. The
Authorities believed her story and as a result of this dramatic
escape plot no further search was ever conducted for Quantrill.
Instead, the Louisville hospital records reflect William Clarke
Quantrill died of his wounds and that an unknown member of his gang
managed to escape.
Quantrill
and his wife stayed in Kentucky for the next two years while
Quantrill was fully recovering back to his normal health. Then one
day in 1867 a
stranger rode into the little town of Gregory, Woodruff Co., AR south
of Augusta, on a very beautiful horse. He introduced himself as
Captain L. J. Crocker. He wanted to buy some land, and he had the
cash in his saddle bags to pay for it. He bought a tract of land
about 12 miles south of Augusta, and he and his wife began clearing
some acreage and building a log cabin.
At
first Captain and Mrs. Crocker kept very much to themselves. Mrs
Crocker seldom ever leaving the house. Captain Crocker rode his horse
frequently into Gregory and Augusta making new friends wherever he
went.
But
there persisted an air of mystery about the Crocker's. Someone said
that Mrs. Crocker was the daughter of Colonel Younger, the father of
Cole, Bob and Jim Younger, the notorious bandits in Missouri. And it
was rumored that the famous Jesse James and his brother Frank made
several visits to the Crocker farm.
Then
one day when Captain Crocker was chatting with friends in the livery
stable at Augusta, a newcomer by the name of Hutchinson approached
him and said, "You, Captain Crocker, are the man I knew as
Quantrill, I was in the Federal Army and was captured by your men. It
was you who finally let me escape."
Captain
Crocker looked at the man and smiled slowly. "You are mistaken,
Sir. My name is L. J. Crocker, and furthermore I think Quantrill would
have shot any Yankee soldier that he captured." There
were many other times when Crocker was recognized as Quantrill but
each time he denied it.
Captain
L. J. Crocker established a store south of what is now the town of
Gregory by 1870, and his wife, Gabriella, was postmaster of the
Crockersville post office, which was located in the store, from 1870
to 1873. In 1880, L. J. Crocker was granted a license to sell wine,
beer and other liquors in quantities less than a quart in the town of
Crockersville. In 1881, the firm of Crocker and Smith obtained a
license to sell liquor in the town of Augusta. It is belived that
Captain and Mrs. Crocker were separated at this time.
Captain
and Mrs. Crocker had a daughter named Laura Lee, born September 26,
1864 and died August 1, 1868 and is buried in the Augusta Memorial
Park Cemetery. They also adopted a son whose name was Joseph "Joe"
Crocker, born in May of 1882 in Missouri. He was adopted when he was
eight years of age. While still a young man Joe was brutally
murdered. The man who committed the murder was sent to prison for
several years. However Crocker always felt that another man in the
community was responsible for the death of Joe. Joe is also buried in
the Augusta Cemetery.
Captain
Crocker had told a friend or two and his wife, who really knew who he
was, not to reveal his true idenity until after his death.
Captain
L. J. Crocker --or William Clarke Quantrill-- lived on his farm near
Gregory for 50 years, from 1867 until his death in 1917.
Captain
Leonard Josiah "L. J." Crocker was born October 18, 1839 in
Kentucky and died June 23, 1917 in Woodruff Co., AR and is buried in
the Augusta Memorial Park Cemetery.
After
the death of Captain Crocker his wife, Gabriella "Gabie"
Younger Crocker, who was born in 1841 in Kentucky, left Woodruff
County and moved back to her relatives ( the Younger's) in Missouri.
Shortly
after the death of Captain and Mrs. Crocker a news article appeared
in the Arkansas Gazette under this title, "Man Who Lived and
Died Near Augusta Said to Have Been Quantrill, Notorius Guerrilla and
Foe of Federals in 60's."
Could
Captain L. J. Crocker have been William Clarke Quantrill?. His true
identity may always remain a mystery to all of us and probably went
to his grave with him at his death.
L.J. Crocker on Find a Grave
The story is not over yet, as I anticipate additional information to come out in the near future.
-G.C. Stevens
Obituary for Capt. L.J. Crocker from 23 Jun 1917
Woodruff, Arkansas, 24 Jun 1917 Memphis, Tennessee, The Commercial
Appeal.
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