Sacking of Osceola

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The Sacking of Osceola was a Union Jayhawker initiative on September 23, 1861, to push out pro-South elements at Osceola, Missouri.

Following the pro-South Missouri State Guard victory over Nathaniel Lyon in the Battle of Wilson's Creek by Sterling Price, Price began an initiatives to "clean" out opposition in Kansas and retake the state of Missouri.

James H. Lane organized 1,200 troops to resist the Price invasion into Kansas. Price defeated Lane in the Battle of Dry Wood Creek near Fort Scott, Kansas. Lane retreated and Price continued his offensive going further into Missouri to the Battle of Lexington I.

With Price preoccupied elsewhere Lane launched an attack behind him. After crossing the Missouri border at Trading Post, Kansas Lane began an offensive on Butler, Missouri, Harrisonville, Missouri, Osceola and Clinton, Missouri, which they burned and looted.

The climax of the campaign was in September of 1861 at Osceola where Lane's forces murdered at least nine men, then pillaged, looted, and then burned the town. According to reports many of the Kansans got so drunk that when it came time to leave they were unable to march and had to ride in wagons and carriages. They carried off with them a tremendous load of plunder, including as Lane's personal share a piano and a quantity of silk dresses. Lane was eventually to continue on to Kansas City, Missouri on September 29 and was to pursue Price as he retreated south through the state.

Lingering fury concerning Lane's raid stirred hatred that would lead to Quantrill's raid on Lawrence, Kansas and the depopulation of western Missouri in General Order No. 11 (1863).

[edit] In popular media

The events of the Osceola massacre served as a partial basis for the 1976 movie The Outlaw Josey Wales starring and directed by Clint Eastwood, in which the lead character is a pro-south Missouri homesteader who wanted to take vengeance for Lane's raid.