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Bob Bowman's East Texas

Is Quantrill
buried in East Texas?

by Bob Bowman
Bob Bowman
One of the most intriguing legends in East Texas claims that William Clarke Quantrill, the guerrilla leader from the Civil War and the mentor of the Younger and James brothers, is buried in Angelina County.

Jake Lyons of Lufkin, a devotee of regional history, helped us shed some light on the legend years ago.

Quantrill was a farmer who drove cattle, taught school, and was considered an excellent teacher. “He was very smart, had a hunger for knowledge, and memorized English poetry,” said Lyons.

Following his exploits as a raider during the aftermath of the Civil War, Quantrill suffered a lingering death in 1865 with a bullet in his spine. He was buried in a Louisville, Kentucky, grave. His mother wasn’t able to find the grave until December of 1867, when she had the grave opened and some of the bones placed in a zinc-lined box and reburied in Dover, Kansas.

However, William Walter Scott, a Dover newspaperman, kept Quantrill’s skull, carried it to Mrs. Quantrill, and she confirmed it was her son by means of a chipped molar in the lower jaw.

But Scott kept the skull and tried to sell it to a historical society. Eventually, the skull fell into the hands of a college fraternity and was eventually buried at a Confederate cemetery at Higginsville, Missouri.

What about the Quantrill grave in Angelina County?

Lyons believes it may be occupied by Quantrill’s young brother, Thomas, who often passed himself off as William and said in 1890 that he was going to Texas, where he was no stranger and had some friends.

Casper Androus Ricks of Huntington, who died in 1937, often told his sons that Quantrill did not die in Kentucky, as the record says, but came to Angelina County, adopted a new name, and became a prominent businessman.

Bob Bowman's East Texas
February 28, 2011 Column.
A weekly column syndicated in 109 East Texas newspapers

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Texas | Stories From Texas' Past | TE Online Magazine
(Bob Bowman of Lufkin is the author of almost 50 books about East Texas. He can be reached at bob-bowman.com)
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The Forgotten Towns of East Texas, Vol. I
By Bob and Doris Bowman
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