Jim Lane has been regarded by many as the John Hunt Morgan or John Singleton Mosby of the North. Lane was a Union partisan ranger. His goal was to eliminate William Quantrill and his raiders. The two would meet at the sacking of Lawrence, Kansas. Lane was the leader of the Kansas Jayhawkers. Their one task was to rid the nation of guerrilla warfare in the areas of Kansas and Missouri. Lane had been elected to the U.S. senate in 1861. His power allowed him to become a prominent respected citizen of Kansas and the surrounding area. The raid on Lawrence was significant because Quantrill felt that he could capture Lane there. Lane being smarter as far as military was concerned was able to escape. Many historians claim that Lane was just as despicable as Quantrill. I personally believe that the guerrilla war was very dastardly, but I feel as though each player had their own agenda, and we may very well never know the full story. Either way, this was a sad time for our great nation.
The Raid on Lawrence, Kansas.
The book Inside War by Michael Fellman is vital in understanding the role of guerrilla warfare in Civil War Missouri.
Stay tuned for more blog posts about tales from Tennessee and beyond. I am currently in the research stage of my senior paper on "Terrorism in the Civil War." It will focus on some of the topics previously discussed on this blog, concerning guerrilla warfare in the Civil War. My readers can expect the paper to be published sometime in May, so be on the lookout for it!!
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