Quantrill and His Civil War Guerrillas
About this ebook
William Clarke Quantrill was a Confederate guerrilla leader during the American Civil War. Having had a knockabout youth resulting in becoming a school teacher, Quantrill joined a group of bandits who roamed the Missouri and Kansas countryside apprehending escaped slaves. Later on this group became Confederate soldiers, who were referred to as “Quantrill’s Raiders”. This group was a pro-Confederate partisan ranger outfit best known for their often brutal guerrilla tactics, which made use of effective Native American field skills. Quantrill’s group included the young Jesse James (1847-1882) and his older brother Frank James (1843-1915), and portraits of both infamous outlaws are included in this engaging biography.
About the author
Carl W. Breihan (February 3, 1916 - March 3, 1998) was an American historian and writer who specialized in civil war historiography. Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, Breihan was a former St. Louis, Missouri County Police Commissioner and also served on the St. Louis City Council, where he represented the Sixth District. During his lifetime, he published nearly a dozen books, mostly on outlaws, lawmen and badmen of the Old West. He was widely regarded as a leading authority on outlaws Frank and Jesse James, as well as the Younger Brothers. His first book, The Complete and Authentic Life of Jesse James, was penned with much information gleaned from the James family in the early 1950s. Breihan’s other notable works included Great Gunfighters of the West (1961), Ride the Razor’s Edge: The Younger Brother’s Story (1992), The Day Jesse James Was Killed (1979), and Outlaws of the Old West (1957). Breihan was married to Ethel Venarde Breihan (1918-2001). Carl W. Breihan died in 1998, aged 82, and was laid to rest at Assumption Parish Cemetery in Mattese, St. Louis, Missouri.
