Bloody Dawn: The Story of the Lawrence Massacre - Softcover

Thomas Goodrich

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0873384768 ISBN 13: 9780873384766

Publisher: The Kent State University Press, 1992

Synopsis

On August 21, 1863, William Quantrill led 400 Confederate irregulars to a rise on the outskirts of Lawrence, Kansas.  For two years, the 3,000 inhabitants of this prosperous frontier community had managed to escape the Civil War which raged in the East.  At Quantrill’s command, the horrors of that war were brought directly into their homes.  The attack began at dawn.  When it was over, more than 150 townsmen were dead and most of the settlement burned to the ground.

In Bloody Dawn, Thomas Goodrich considers why this remote settlement was signaled out to receive such brutal treatment.  He also describes the retribution that soon followed, which in many ways surpassed the significance of the Lawrence Massacre itself.  The story that unfolds reveals an event unlike anything our nation has experienced before or since.

About this title

From Library Journal

For many, the Civil War was a struggle between North and South; however for the residents of Lawrence, Kansas, the Civil War was a struggle of East and West. In 1856, when John Brown killed five proslavery supporters in Kansas, the Kansas-Missouri border became a center of turmoil. Jayhawkers crossed into Missouri to wreak havoc, only to be countered by raids into Kansas. Not until William Quantrill staged his raid of August 21, 1863 on the sleeping town of Lawrence had the raids reached such a fevered pitch. Slaughtering townspeople and burning buildings, Quantrill left behind a near-barren wasteland. Goodrich relates this story of Quantrill and his raid in a dramatic and spellbinding manner. For the residents of Kansas and Missouri, these border wars were their own private hell; there was no gallantry or honor for these participants. Recommended for most libraries. History Book Club alternate.
- Barbara Zaborowski, Cambria Cty. Lib., Johnstown, Pa.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: The Kent State University Press
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0873384768
• ISBN 13: 9780873384766
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 216