Notable Events:

• Quantrill's Betrayal of Jayhawkers (December 10, 1860)

Before William Clarke Quantrill was a feared Missouri bushwhacker, he joined with jayhawkers to plan a raid that would liberate slaves. Rather than following through with the plot, though, Quantrill tipped off a son of the farm's owner, Morgan Walker, and led his fellow jayhawkers into a deadly trap. In the wake of the betrayal, Quantrill attempted to exonerate himself by inventing a story about jayhawkers killing his brother and leaving him for dead. Despite this justification, Quantrill went on to become one of the most feared proslavery bushwhackers of the Civil War. Today, the Morgan Walker farm is in Blue Springs, Missouri, not far from the Burr Oak Woods Conservation Area.