The Truth About Responses to yankee Terrorism in Missouri
Quantrill: The Truth at Last
Quantrill: The Truth at Last
(Clyde Wilson, The Abbeville Institute) - If you have seen the 1976 Clint Eastwood film “The Outlaw Josey Wales,” you may remember that it opens when the hero, a peaceful Missouri farmer, has his home destroyed and his wife killed by Kansas Jayhawkers. He then joins the Southern guerilla fighters. This was the reality for thousands of Southerners living in western Missouri.
An even better film, “Ride with the Devil,” (1999) has a similar beginning and result. Both films are based on novels by Southern authors, Forrest Carter and Daniel Woodrell. The latter film was made by Ang Lee, a director who evidently does not suffer from Yankee self-righteousness.
The bloody Kansas/Missouri fighting between the North and South, which began even before Fort Sumter, is a very interesting and controversial event in our history. It has created a considerable literature, the bulk of which portrays brutal Southern barbarians preying upon righteous Kansas settlers. This vigourously promoted interpretation is a tissue of lies. There is not a bit of Northern righteousness to be found in this conflict although there was a great deal of confusion and divided loyalties.
Instead, Union activity in this border region was a campaign of terror against civilians—looting, burning, torture, rape, and…