The Devil Knows How to Ride: The True Story of William Clark Quantrill and His Confederate Raiders - Hardcover

Leslie, Edward E.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0679424555 ISBN 13: 9780679424550

Publisher: Random House, 1996

Synopsis

This is the first modern biography of the most famous--and infamous--soldier, rogue, raider, and terrorist to emerge from the Civil War. The Devil Knows How to Ride is based on memoirs, letters, diaries, and newspapers--all of which the author has skillfully converted in a biography that is almost sure to provoke controversy among Civil War historians and buffs alike. of photos.

About this title

From the Back Cover

first modern biography of the most famous--and infamous--soldier, rogue, raider, and terrorist to emerge from the Civil War. The Devil Knows How to Ride is based on memoirs, letters, diaries, and newspapers--all of which the author has skillfully converted in a biography that is almost sure to provoke controversy among Civil War historians and buffs alike. of photos.

Reviews

One of two action-packed works about the notorious border ruffian and Confederate guerrilla to be published this season (see Duane Schultz's Quantrill's War: The Life and Times of William Clarke Quantrill, p. 1134). Little has survived in Quantrill's hand, writes freelance historian Leslie (Desperate Journeys, Abandoned Souls, 1988): a few letters home, a couple of commemorative verses, an eight-paragraph military report. It is thus not easy to determine what motivated the man who terrorized the abolitionists of Kansas before and during the Civil War. Born in Ohio to a Unionist family who opposed slavery, he seems to have been converted to the Southern cause while working as a freighter in Utah Territory during the Mormon War, and he embraced the cause with ferocious energy. A part-time cattle rustler when the Civil War broke out, Quantrill, writes Leslie, seems to have had a streak of cruelty--a wartime associate recalls that he once shot a pig just to make it squeal--that served him well in his campaign of terror. Many thousands of deaths can be attributed to his guerrilla command, including the 150 civilians slain during his infamous 1863 raid on Lawrence, Kan. ``I would cover the armies of the Confederacy all over with blood,'' he wrote to a superior. ``I would invade. I would reward audacity. I would exterminate. . . . I would win the independence of my people or I would find them graves.'' Quantrill rode into infamy, dying at the age of 27 near the war's end; his notoriety was assured both because of his own depredations and because among his soldiers were Frank and Jesse James and the Cole brothers, who were to become famous outlaws. Leslie does a remarkably thorough job of telling Quantrill's bloody story, and especially of relating the grisly fate of his remains, which the author traces as they traveled over the next century from one burial site to another, with an intermediate stop at an Ohio fraternity house. Highly recommended for Civil War buffs and students of frontier history. (Author tour) -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Confederate "partisan ranger" Quantrill, known for senseless killing, led his band of guerrillas on constant raids against Union forces and sympathizers in Missouri and Kansas. His most notorious attack was on Lawrence, Kansas, as he turned his men loose to murder and loot as they pleased, leaving the town in ruins and strewn with corpses. Leslie (Desperate Journeys, Abandoned Souls: The True Stories of Maroons, Castaways and Other Survivors, LJ 10/1/88) provides a comprehensive story of Quantrill and his raiders, beginning with the Kansas-Missouri border wars all the way through the Civil War and ending with annual guerrilla reunions into the early 1900s. Along the way, he discusses such notorious Quantrill followers as Frank and Jesse James and Cole Younger. Leslie attempts a balanced view of the infamous guerrilla leader, portraying his willingness to kill while dispelling myths surrounding him. This is a good place to begin a study of Quantrill; recommended for academic and public libraries.?Grant A. Fredericksen, Illinois Prairie Dist. P.L., Metamora
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Random House
• Publication date: 1996
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0679424555
• ISBN 13: 9780679424550
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 534