From the mass of rubbish that has been written about the guerrilla there
is little surprise that the popular conception of him should be a
fiendish, bloodthirsty wretch.
Yet he was, in many cases, if not in most, a man who had been born to
better things, and who was made what he was by such outrages as Osceola,
Palmyra, and a hundred other raids less famous, but not less infamous,
that were made by Kansans into Missouri during the war.
When the war ceased those of the guerrillas who were not hung or shot, or
pursued by posses till they found the hand of man turned against them at
every step, settled down to become good citizens in the peaceful walks of
life, and the survivors of Quantrell’s band may be pardoned, in view of
the black paint that has been devoted to them, in calling attention to the
fact that of the members of Quantrell’s command who have since been
entrusted with public place not one has ever betrayed his trust.
John C. Hope was for two terms sheriff of Jackson county, Mo., in which is
Kansas City, and Capt. J. M. Tucker was sheriff at Los Angeles,
California. Henry Porter represented one of the Jackson county districts
in the state legislature, removed to Texas, where he was made judge of the
county court, and is now, I understand, a judge of probate in the state of
Washington. “Pink” Gibson was for several years county judge in Johnson
county; Harry Ogden served the state of Louisiana as lieutenant-governor
and as one of its congressmen. Capt. J. G. Lea was for many years
instructor in the military department of the University of New Mexico,
and, I believe, is there yet. Jesse Hamblett was marshal at Lexington,
and W. H. Gregg, who was Quantrell’s first lieutenant, has been thought
well enough of to be a deputy sheriff under the administration of a
Republican. Jim Hendricks, deputy sheriff of Lewis and Clark county,
Montana, is another, but to enumerate all the men of the old band who have
held minor places would be wearisome.