Indeed, that is concise, thoughtful writing.... Excellent summation of a difficult situation on the Missouri-Kansas border areas.

Some interesting points, though. Argument can be made that of all the Jayhawkers who inflicted themselves on Missouri, Kansas Senator and Brigadier General James H. Lane was by any measure a bigger criminal than Jennison. In fact, in decreasing scale of impact, it would probably rate as Lane, his disciple Jennison, and Jennison's disciple Hoyt. This, however, was because of the size of forces available to each man: Lane with the Kansas Brigade; Jennison with the Seventh Kansas Cavalry regiment; Hoyt with his company of Red Legs and later with his detectives.

Although Quantrill lost only one man at Lawrence (Larkin Skaggs), he began losing others at Gardner, Kansas, and continued to have men picked off all the way back into Missouri and for days after. Most of the men killed, however, were not what Quantrill would have considered "his" men; they were Holt's volunteers and others who had chosen to go on the raid. The most prized "catch" of the Kansas "hunters" was Lieutenant Josiah L. Bledsoe, who was wounded at Lawrence with another man. Although carried off from Lawrence in a hack, it became impossible to continue conveying them towards Missouri and safety. Ultimately the two wounded men were left hidden in the brush in the faint hope that they would be overlooked by the pursuers. It really wasn't much of a hope, however, as proven by former Red Leg Jack Bridges, who finished off the two men. George H. Hoyt personally executed three captured raiders during the retreat, and former Red Leg Theodore Bartles claimed to have killed another raider with a magnificient rifle shot at long distance.

Once Quantrill's force reached Missouri and scattered, it became problematical whether men confronted by vengeful Unionists had actually participated in the raid or not. I think it does not overstate the case to say that any Missouri man who could be accused of being a raider, the relative of a raider, a guerrilla supporter, a Confederate supporter, a visitor from a Southern state, someone who once said that Abe Lincoln was the ugliest man he'd ever seen, stated that he didn't think it right to kill defenseless prisoners, etc., etc., etc., was killed as a "raider." It would be interesting to see (if one could find a way to go back in time) how many Union Missouri men were killed after the Lawrence raid. Kansas sentiment tended to be that ANY Missourian not wearing Federal blue and a member of a Union military unit, was a "Johnny Reb."