the next rendezvous was at reuben harris’, ten miles south of independence, and thither all the command went, splendidly mounted again and eager for employment. some days of preparation were necessary. richard hall, a fighting blacksmith, who shot as well as he shod, and knew a trail as thoroughly as a piece of steel, had need to exercise much of his handiwork in order to make the horses good for cavalry. then there were several rounds of cartridges to make. a guerrilla knew nothing whatever of an ordnance master. his laboratory was in his luck. if a capture did not bring him caps, he had to fall back on ruse, or strategem, or blockade-running square out. powder and lead in the raw were enough, for if with these he could not make himself presentable at inspection he had no calling as a fighter in the brush.
it was quantrell’s intention at this time to attack harrisonville, the county seat of cass county, and capture it if possible. with this object in view, and after every preparation was made for a vigorous campaign, he moved eight miles east of independence, camping near the little blue, in the vicinity of job crabtree’s. he camped always near or in a house. for this he had two reasons. first, that its occupants might gather up for him all the news possible; and, second, that in the event of a surprise a sure rallying63 point would always be at hand. he had a theory that after a guerrilla was given time to get over the first effects of a sudden charge or ambushment the very nature of his military status made him invincible; that after an opportunity was afforded him to think, a surrender was next to impossible.
before there was time to attack harrisonville, however, a scout reported peabody again on the war path, this time bent on an utter extermination of the guerrillas, and he well-nigh kept his word. from job crabtree’s, quantrell had moved to an unoccupied house known as the low house, and then from this house he had gone to some contiguous timber to bivouac for the night. about ten o’clock the sky suddenly became overcast, a fresh wind blew from the east, and rain fell in torrents. again the house was occupied, the horses being hitched along the fence in the rear of it, the door on the south, the only door, having a bar across it in lieu of a sentinel. such soldiering was perfectly inexcusable, and it taught quantrell a lesson to remember until the day of his death.
in the morning preceding the day of the attack lieutenant nash, of peabody’s regiment, commanding two hundred men, had struck quantrell’s trail, but lost it later on, and then found it again just about sunset. he was informed of quantrell’s having gone from the low house to the brush and of his having come back to it when the rain began falling heavily. to a certain extent this64 seeking shelter was a necessity on the part of quantrell. the men had no cartridge boxes, and not all of them had overcoats. if once their ammunition were damaged, it would be as though sheep should attack wolves.
nash, supplied with everything needed for the weather, waited patiently for the guerrillas to become snugly settled under shelter, and then surrounded the house. before a gun was fired the federals had every horse belonging to the guerrillas, and were bringing to bear every available carbine in command upon the only door. at first all was confusion. across the logs that once had supported an upper floor some boards had been laid, and sleeping upon them were todd, blunt and william carr. favored by the almost impenetrable darkness, quantrell determined upon an immediate abandonment of the house. he called loudly twice for all to follow him and dashed through the door under a galling fire. those in the loft did not hear him, and maintained in reply to the federal volleys a lively fusillade. then cole younger, james little, joseph gilchrist and a young irish boy—a brave new recruit—turned back to help their comrades. the house became a furnace. at each of the two corners on the south side four men fought, younger calling on todd in the intervals of every volley to come out of the loft and come to the brush. they started at last. it was four hundred yards to the nearest shelter, and the ground was very muddy. gilchrist was shot65 down, the irish boy was killed, blunt was wounded and captured, carr surrendered, younger had his hat shot away, little was unhurt, and todd, scratched in four places, finally got safely to the timber. but it was a miracle. twenty federals singled him out as well as they could in the darkness and kept close at his heels, firing whenever a gun was loaded. todd had a musket which, when it seemed as if they were all upon him at once, he would point at the nearest and make pretense of shooting. when they halted and dodged about to get out of range, he would dash away again, gaining what space he could until he had to turn and re-enact the same unpleasant pantomime. reaching the woods at last, he fired point blank, and in reality now, killing with a single discharge one pursuer and wounding four. part of nash’s command were still on the track of quantrell, but after losing five killed and a number wounded, they returned again to the house, but returned too late for the continued battle. the dead and two prisoners were all that were left for them.
little blue was bank full and the country was swarming with militia. for the third time quantrell was afoot with unrelenting pursuers upon his trail in every direction. at daylight nash would be after him again, river or no river. he must get over or fare worse. the rain was still pouring down; muddy, forlorn, well-nigh worn out, yet in no manner demoralized,66 just as quantrell reached the little blue he saw on the other bank toler, one of his own soldiers, sitting in a canoe. thence forward the work of crossing was easy, and nash, coming on an hour afterwards, received a volley at the ford where he expected to find a lot of helpless and unresisting men.
this fight at the low house occurred the first week in may, 1862, and caused the expedition against harrisonville to be abandoned. three times surprised and three times losing all horses, saddles, and bridles, it again became necessary to disband the guerrillas in this instance as in the preceding two. the men were dismissed for thirty days with orders to remount themselves, while quantrell—taking todd into his confidence and acquainting him fully with his plans—started in his company for hannibal. it had become urgently necessary to replenish the supply of revolver caps. the usual trade with kansas city was cut off. of late the captures had not been as plentiful as formerly. recruits were coming in, and the season for larger operations was at hand. in exploits where peril and excitement were about evenly divided, quantrell took great delight. he was so cool, so calm; he had played before such a deadly game; he knew so well how to smile when a smile would win, and when to frown when a frown was a better card to play, that something in this expedition appealed to every quixotic instinct of his intrepidity. todd was all iron; quantrell67 all glue. todd would go at a circular saw; quantrell would sharpen its teeth and grease it where there was friction. one purred and killed, and the other roared and killed. what mattered the mode, however, only so the end was the same?
