Grayson County; an illustrated history of Grayson County, Texas. Page: 67
180 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this book.
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At a Christmas ball given by the young people of
Sherman, Bill Anderson of the Quantrill gang met Miss
Bush Smith. His attachment for the young woman soon
became serious, and he determined to marry her. When
he made his plans known to his Colonel, Quantrill objected
strongly. The result was a cleavage among the
men. In March a number of them followed Anderson
into Sherman and established camp to the north-west
of the present intersection of College and Broughton
Streets. Both factions armed themselves and expected
attack from the opposing group. Citizens of the town
feared a pitched battle in the streets, but the conflict
never materialized.
Discipline under such conditions, however, would
have proved impossible had Quantrill been the most
conscientious of officers. As conditions were, the country
was pillaged and terrorized.
Dressed in Union uniforms that they had captured,
the gang traveled where they would in a disorganized
fashion. Soldiers of this sort cared nothing for civilians
and often roared through the streets with six guns at
the blaze. They riddled the steeple of the Methodist
Church on Travis Street with bullets and shot the locks
off store buildings. Some of the men are reported to have
ridden into Ben Christian's hotel and to have shot the
tassel off the headdress of a woman variously described
as Sophia Coffee Butt or the innkeeper's mother-in-law.
On the other hand there is the well known story of
the way in which Quantrill dispelled a mob of determined
war widows. The account is based on that of Dick
Hopson.
During the winter of 1863-4 a group of women
whose husbands were in the Confederate service heard
that the commissary in Sherman had a large supply of
food stuffs and luxuries. If the report had been true,
these supplies would have been available for wives of
soldiers. Assuming that they were being cheated out
of what was rightfully theirs, the women banded together
and descended upon Maj. Blaine, a veteran of
the Texas Revolution, who was in charge of the Sherman
commissary. Their leader, a Mrs. Savage, informed
the major that "she knew a soldier's ration contained
sugar, coffee, and tea and that he had been withholding
these things from the rations of the 'war widows' of
Grayson County."
Blaine assured the women that he had none of these
commodities and escorted them through the warehouse
to prove his point. Such evidence did not satisfy, however;
and the women soon became an indignant mob
bent upon finding the hidden supplies which they so
confidently considered their due. With guns, axes,
sledge hammers, and clubs the outraged daughters of
the frontier marched upon privately owned buildings,
breaking into them in search of the nonexistent supplies.
On the east side of the square. I. Heilbroner, a British
subject, kept a general store, well stocked with goods,
including luxuries, that had been imported via Mexico.
Seeing the women approach, he rapidly locked his doors
and disappeared.
The women broke down the doors, surged into the
store, and were pillaging the stock in a manner that
would have done credit to the efficiency of the Quantrill
gang when suddenly Quantrill himself stood among
them.The shock of seeing the Guerrilla leader and the icy
coolness of his voice as he advised the ladies to put back
the merchandise they were now sampling brought sanity
to the mob immediately. We are told that the women
put back the goods, nailed the broken doors in place
once more, and returned to their homes.67
Because of the irregularity of the uniforms used by
the Quantrill men, it was easy enough for any deserter,
bushwhacker, or other transient to pass himself off as a
Quantrill raider. It is quite likely that some of the violence
done in Grayson County and attributed to the
famous guerrillas was actually committed by others*.
Nevertheless, Quantrill was undesirable.
*After the break between "Bloody Bill Anderson and
Quantrill, Anderson seems to have followed a course of
deliberately discrediting his former leader. He is said to
have communicated several times with McCulloch, representng
to him that various crimes in Grayson County
had been committed by direct command of the guerrilla
chief. Among other statements thus made, Fletch Taylor,
who was among the dissidents who had joined Anderson,
"confessed" that he had murdered "Major" Butt.
This was manifestly untrue since the guerrillas had been
busy in Kansas when Butt was killed. Nevertheless, Taylor's
"confession" offers an acceptable explanation of
Sophia Butt Porter's belief that George Butt was murdered
by QuantrilL
Most of the evidence upon which Quantrill's activities
in Grayson County have been reconstructed in
various accounts is furnished by members of his gang,
persons not always noted for accuracy or veracity. In
confusing times memories become blurred at best and
bold action excites the imagination. A great part of the
following account can be proved false; but since Quantrill's
role in history is largely that of a folk hero, passages
from the letters of W. L. Potter to W. W. Scott,
written in 1896 ought to be presented. The near illiteracy
of Potter is evident. The letters are quoted in William
Elsey Connelley's Quantrill and the Border Wars,
Pageant Book Company, New York, 1956. pp. 440-445.
"I was not at Sherman at the time. I was about 10 miles
North East in Grayson co was there a few days after it occurred
The only Hotel in Town at that time was owned and
managed by Ben christian, a friend of W.C.Quantrill and all
of hif men, and every other confederate soldier. He was as
good a citizen as there was in Texas. He told me that the men
first got started at a House of their friends on Egg Nog. they
then got hold of some Whiskey.
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Landrum, Graham. Grayson County; an illustrated history of Grayson County, Texas., book, 1960; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth24647/m1/71/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.