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Aside from the sieges of cities where getting the civilian population to give up was the goal to get the field army to attack the others prepared positions there were the guerrilla units working in the border states where the line between civilian and local militia protecting their own family was thin
And then in Missouri there was the blanket application of all citizens as potential malcontents. Order 11 was issued shortly after the US forces entered thru the county they lived in. It depopulated any county which had had 'guerilla activity'. They evicted the populas. The military took stored food and stock. The houses and farm buildings were burned. The families were allowed to take blankets and a horse and wagon, no personal possessions, and food for several days.
There were no refugee camps for them to go to, and they gathered around populated areas at first and then scattered. I'd always wondered why my family in Missouri ended up in Minnesota. Turns out they lived in the first county to be emptied by Order 11. None of the men in the family fought on either side. Loyalty to the south or north wasn't a factor at all in if you got evicted. Order 11 was applied to six counties over time. It was an outright depopulation which didn't ask or care what side you might be inclied to be on. A number of children especially died from the lack of any help or other shelter who were effected by this policy. Many left towards Minessota and away from the war.
Quantrill's men murder some 185-200 men and boys during his raid of Lawrence, Kansas.
Not to justify what happened, or to glorify Quantrill, but most of those people were not killed by Quantrill's men per se.
The raiding force was really a loose coalition of several independent guerilla bands. Prior to the raid, Quantrill is said to have distributed a "hit list" detailing which house were to be looted and burned (pretty much the entire town except of a handful of CSA sympathizers) and where Jaw Hawker militants lived. Quantrill then ordered that these particular men were to be identified and killed on the spot.
During the raid, witnesses said that Quantrill's immediate band behaved relatively well. Quantrill had assigned the juiciest targets loot wise to his group. There were no wanton killings at these places (just a lot of looting of wealthy targets) and the Catholic leaning Quantrill even ordered his men to return valuables taken from Catholic clergy. Other witnesses saw the guerillas detain two brothers, identify them, then kill one, but let the other one go (not on the hit list?).
But.... other groups in the raiders, espescialy the group headed by "Bloody Bill" Anderson, a complete sociopath known to ride a horse festooned with scalps quickly spiraled out of control. Any hit list was discarded and they began to hunt down and kill all males over the age of 16.
OP that was an interesting question as I really hadnt thought about it. If it was today am sure the killing,raping pillaging would take place except much larger scale than we have on a daily basis now.Does anyone know how to send this thread to my email.
Last edited by luv my dayton; 07-12-2015 at 06:50 AM..
Reason: adding a question
The military took stored food and stock. The houses and farm buildings were burned. The families were allowed to take blankets and a horse and wagon, no personal possessions, and food for several days.
A number of children especially died from the lack of any help or other shelter who were effected by this policy.
As a side note, the federal units enforcing the order were initially comprised of Jay Hawker militias. Like their CSA guerilla counter parts, the units were poorly disciplined and many had deep personal grudges against real and imagined enemies and were looking for pretenses to kill confederate sympathizers (espescially after Quantrill's raid on Lawrence).
Most of the worst abuses towards civilians were committed by these units. The union command then saw that many Jay Hawkers were totally out of control and wanton violence was escalating. They then replaced the Jay Hawker militias with regular army troops. The evictions were still carried out, but the level of violence was reduced.
My guess is that none of your male ancestors were killed out right during the eviction process, they were evicted by regular army troops and not by Jay Hawkers.
As a side note, the federal units enforcing the order were initially comprised of Jay Hawker militias. Like their CSA guerilla counter parts, the units were poorly disciplined and many had deep personal grudges against real and imagined enemies and were looking for pretenses to kill confederate sympathizers (espescially after Quantrill's raid on Lawrence).
Most of the worst abuses towards civilians were committed by these units. The union command then saw that many Jay Hawkers were totally out of control and wanton violence was escalating. They then replaced the Jay Hawker militias with regular army troops. The evictions were still carried out, but the level of violence was reduced.
My guess is that none of your male ancestors were killed out right during the eviction process, they were evicted by regular army troops and not by Jay Hawkers.
They lived fairly close to the border, and my guess would be they packed up and headed straight for Illinious. My great grandfather was a baby. My great grandmother (his wife) was also born in Illinious about the same time, but the birth was registered through a church as if they had just recently arrived. They came from Tennessee. That area was a gathering place for the border states displaced appartently.
His family returned to the area when the war was over, but to Iowa, along with her family, and given the amount of cousins mom knew about still in Iowa I'm probably related to a bunch of it by now.
The thing about the order was it didn't target the violent, but just everyone. And there was no planning done at all to figure out where all these people were going to go, where they would get food, and given they were evicted with the clothes on their backs, how they'd survive after. That one is on the generals who ordered it. I'm sure my ancestors on his side were northern leaning, but they did sit out the war.
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