Quantrell

DESCRIPTION: "Come all you bold robbers and open your ears, Of QuantrelI the lion-heart you quickly will hear." Quantrell raids and burns Lawrence, Kansas, but allegedly he supports to the poor, and "a brave man or woman he'll never annoy."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1864 (Council Grove Press, according to Cohen)
KEYWORDS: outlaw
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Aug 21, 1863 - Quantrill's Raiders destroy Lawrence, Kansas, killing about 150 men.
May 10, 1865 - Quantrill is mortally wounded on his way to Washington (where he hoped to stir up trouble by assassination). He dies 20 days later.
FOUND IN: US(Ro)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Lomax/Lomax-AmericanBalladsAndFolkSongs, pp. 132-133, "Quantrell" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen-AmericanFolkSongsARegionalEncyclopedia2, pp. 493-494, "Quentill's Raid on Lawrence" (1 text)
Finger-FrontierBallads, pp. 64-65, "Quantrell" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lingenfelter/Dwyer/Cohen-SongsOfAmericanWest, pp. 314-315, "Quantrell" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, QUANTRLL*
Roud #4094
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Charlie Quantrell" (subject) and references there
NOTES [85 words]: As is so often the case with outlaw ballads, this paints much too pretty a picture. For a brief background on Quantrill (the name used in Confederate records), see the notes to "Charlie Quantrell."
To tell this song from other Quantrell pieces, consider this first stanza:
Come all you bold robbers and open your ears
Of QuantrelI the lion-heart you quickly will hear
With his band of bold raiders in double-quick time
He came to burn Lawrence just over the line.
This song is item dE33 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.6
File: LoA132

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