BAXTER SPRINGS MASSACRE

Baxter Springs Massacre is a Kansas historical marker in Cherokee County.

Cherokee County · US-66, at Baxter Springs · location approximate

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ON OCTOBER 6, 1863, GEN. JAMES BLUNT AND ABOUT 100 MEN WERE MET NEAR BAXTER'S SPRINGS BY WILLIAM QUANTRILL AND SEVERAL HUNDRED CONFEDERATES MASQUERADING AS UNION TROOPS. AS BLUNT'S BAND WAS PREPARING A MUSICAL SALUTE THE ENEMY FIRED. THIS SURPRISE ATTACK PREVENTED ORGANIZED RESISTANCE, AND THOUGH BLUNT ESCAPED NINE-TENTHS OF HIS MEN WERE KILLED. THE RAIDERS ALSO ATTACKED LT. JAMES POND AND 95 MEN ENCAMPED AT THE SPRINGS. THIS FORCE WAS LIKEWISE CAUGHT OFF GUARD BUT RESISTED UNTIL THE ENEMY RETIRED. THESE BATTLE SITES ARE IN PRESENT BAXTER SPRINGS. A NUMBER OF THE VICTIMS ARE BURIED IN THE NATIONAL CEMETERY ONE MILE WEST OF TOWN. BAXTER SPRINGS WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1866 ON THE FORT LEAVENWORTH-FORT GIBSON MILITARY ROAD. FOR SEVERAL YEARS IT WAS IMPORTANT AS A TRADING CENTER FOR TEXAS CATTLE.

Verbatim 1941 text, presented as a historical record, not current interpretation. Kansas rewrote many of these signs in 2011-2012 and retired others, and the current texts use different language about Native people.

The Kansas Historical Society maintains the marker program and its current texts. Current marker program ↗

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Barry Lawrence Ruderman Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

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under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s

what this marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years here

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Marker data: Kirke Mechem, "Kansas Historical Markers", Kansas Historical Quarterly, v. X no. 4 (November 1941), published by the Kansas State Historical Society

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