Stark Mad Abolitionists

May 29, 2017
Sutton, former chief historian of the National Park Service, chronicles the turbulent history of Lawrence, Kans., which was founded by the disciples of Amos Adams Lawrence, a Boston businessman turned abolitionist. Outraged by an 1854 court verdict that returned escaped slave Anthony Burns back to Southern bondage, Lawrence established the New England Emigrant Aid Company. His followers, dubbed “Jayhawkers,” included the abolitionists John Brown and Rev. Henry Ward Beecher. Antislavery Jayhawkers moved to Kansas to fight “pro-slavery ruffians” in order to keep it from becoming a slave state. Those battles culminated in the infamous Lawrence Massacre of 1863, led by the Confederate guerrilla leader William Clarke Quantrill, and resulted in nearly 200 deaths and the destruction of 75 buildings. Sutton demythologizes the supposedly noble motives of Quantrill’s forces, concluding that “their motivations were not to rob the rich to give to the poor, but rather to perpetuate the institution of slavery and gain independence for the Confederacy during the war, and rob banks and trains after the war to enrich themselves.” That the outlaws Frank and Jesse James both joined Quantrill’s forces confirms that point. Sutton’s nuanced narrative reveals the extent of the abolitionists’ fight and shows how “Bleeding Kansas” earned its nickname.

June 15, 2017

In his first major book, Sutton (former chief historian, National Park Service) shows how the high passions and ineffective politics that contributed to the American Civil War were at work in Kansas's struggle for statehood prior to the national conflict. With the policy of popular sovereignty making citizens of the new territory responsible for deciding whether Kansas would enter the Union as a free or slave state, the stage was set for what would become a bloody clash between "Free-Soilers" and proslavery advocates. Sutton concentrates on the role of Eastern antislavery activists in encouraging and financing the establishment of Free Soil settlers in Kansas, as well as efforts to arm such settlers against incursions by proslavery Missourians including William Clarke Quantrill. Border skirmishes between proslavery Bushwhackers and antislavery Jayhawkers, as well as the biased governing of politicians allied with one side or the other, threatened the survival of the fledgling territory. A highlight is the description of Quantrill's vicious 1863 raid on the Union town of Lawrence, KS, a tragedy too often overshadowed by the larger upheaval. VERDICT Recommended for Civil War enthusiasts and readers interested in antebellum history.--Sara Shreve, Newton, KS

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