I agree wholeheartedly with Neil's and Rose's assertions about the origins of Quantrill's guerrillas. They have devoted years of research to this and related topics.

Quantrill's original band formed about December 1861 consisted mostly of men from Jackson and Cass Counties, but after conducting their first operations in the early weeks of 1862 men from further away joined up. As some of the smaller local bands from surrounding counties were defeated by Federals, their surviving members joined, too. A number from Johnson County came in during that summer, and some of the guerrillas from north of the Missouri River in Clay and Ray Counties finally crossed the river to join in 1863. A recruiting group from Quantrill's band brought in about 100 Saline County southerners in July 1863, and many of them participated in the Lawrence raid. However, as they were beginners in guerrilla skills and not as familiar with the countryside of Jackson and Lafayette Counties, I think the several Union cavalry regiments that dragnetted this area for weeks after the Lawrence raid killed a number of these Saline Countians. Skeptics doubted Union claims of killing scores of Quantrill's men during late August and the month of September there, and believed the Federals were actually killing innocent farmers. This is partly true, but I personally think many they killed were these Saline County beginners, too.

Bruce Nichols