Quantrill's Raid in Lawrence, Kansas, Civil War Letter & CDV 

A Civil War letter on Quantrill's raid in Lawrence, KS, written by a female hotel/inn owner M.A.C(hesley). Killam (1831-1916). 4pp (4.75 x 8 in.), Lawrence, KS, Apr. 25, 1864. Accompanied by a CDV of Lawrence.

Born in Barnstead, NH, Mary A. Chesley married George F. Killam on December 14, 1854. Mary was a religious person. The Killams were described as "pronounced abolitionists," and joined others in 1855 in the migration to Kansas, to add to the residents who would vote to keep Kansas slavery free. They operated the Eastern House hotel, then built a larger frame hotel/boarding house, the Killam Hotel. Many prominent people were guests, including John Brown, William Phillips and Jim Lane.

George Killam died on May 13, 1863. On August 21 of that same year, William Clarke Quantrill and some 300 (or more) Confederate raiders entered Lawrence at dawn. Mary writes to her Uncle back in New Hampshire: ...the rebels came upon us like a flash of lightning in a clear day. They took six men from my house & shot 5 of them immediately. Killed a negro who had run in for safety, shot him in my dining room, & he burned up. God only knows the anguish of that hour. 83 women lost husbands, 240 children were made orphans. No description can do justice to its details. There were 183 houses on fire at the same time. The old & young & old fared alike. Men were shot with their wives clinging to them & with their children in their arms....

She tells him: I will first say that I lost all I had in the world except my soap staf(?), that is my house & all its contents. Clothing & all, saved only about 5 dollars worth & that was bedding. Saved not a single picture. I was what the world termed in good circumstances. I was offered five thousand dollars for my three lots on which the house stood. Then had all my furniture besides which I could have sold for two thousand more.... If my house had not been burned I should now been out of debt & money besides & in two years more would have commanded 10,000 at any time my property would have brought that at any sale, I still own my lots, ....My lots are very valuable, good as any in town.

After the war, Mrs. Killam built a new house on one of the lots, not in the same location as the first. She built herself a separate house some time later on another of the lots.

The accompanying CDV provides a view of the west side of Massachusetts Street in Lawrence, looking north, ca early 1860s, with the Eldridge Hotel at the end of the block.

Our thanks to jms (Portals2history), who posted Mary Killam's biographical information on Find-a-Grave. Please see that site for additional information.

Letter with typical folds. Toning primarily along fold and long edges. The rest is fine. Carte trimmed slightly, but only mount affected. Albumen intact.