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Bushwacking is a form of guerrilla warfare where small teams of self-regulated civilians conduct raids, ambushes, and other mobile tactics against a larger, formally organized enemy. They operate outside the official chain of command and often use surprise attacks and raids. The Missouri-Kansas border is one of the most notorious bushwacking sites in American history, where conflicts between bushwackers and jayhawkers during the American Civil War led to a “civil war within the civil war.” William Clarke Quantrill was a famous American bushwacker who formed Quantrill’s Raiders, and his hit-and-run tactics were later used in notorious bank and train robberies in the American West. The Lawrence Massacre was a significant bush attack masterminded by Quantrill and his raiders.
Bushwacking, also spelled bushwhacking, is generally a form of guerrilla warfare. Bushwackers operate outside the official chain of command of any army, faction, or cause they support, although they may sometimes work together or at least under the unofficial auspices of conventional military authority. For the most part, however, bushwackers belong to small teams of self-regulated civilians who take it upon themselves to conduct raids, ambushes, and other mobile tactics against a larger, formally organized enemy. In US history, bushwackers played a role in the American Revolution, but are perhaps most famous for their exploits in Missouri and Kansas during the American Civil War.
The name bushwacker most likely comes from the fact that a bushwacker hides in bushes and that a bushwacker typically ambushes enemies rather than engaging them in formal combat. Vegetation hunting tactics may not seem that innovative or unusual in modern times where many fighters use similar strategies and methods. During the time of the American Revolution and the American Civil War, however, it was generally more common for opposing armies to meet on an open battlefield. Surprise attacks and raids went against the conventional rules of warfare espoused in those eras and quickly gained bushwacker notoriety and a fearsome reputation. American bushwackers modeled much of their fighting style on that of Native Americans.
The advantages a bushwacker typically has over a conventional fighter include mobility, greater familiarity with terrain, and the element of surprise. A bushwacker and his companions often employ tactics such as luring enemy troops into difficult and unsuitable terrain or sneaking into enemy camps. Additionally, a bushwacker is likely to undertake stealth and reconnaissance missions.
The Missouri-Kansas border is one of the most notorious bushwacking sites in American history. Conflicts simmered on the border between Missouri, a “slave state” and Kansas, a “free state,” long before the first shots were fired in the American Civil War. When the war began, Missouri was still technically part of the Union; federal troops promptly marched into the state capitol to ensure it remained that way. Officially, Missouri was to maintain neutrality throughout the war, but the intense guerrilla warfare that ravaged the state told a different story.
Bushwackers sided with the Confederacy during the war. In some cases, the Confederate Army has empowered these insurgents by giving them assignments as “partisan rangers.” A jayhawker was the Union-loyal equivalent of a bushwacker and used similar guerilla tactics; many jayhawkers were Kansan raiding across the Missouri-Kansas border to burn or loot western Missouri towns or farmland. The fierce fighting between these two factions is often referred to as a “civil war within the civil war,” as neighbors sometimes fought against neighbors. In some cases, entire families were banished from Missouri by union militiamen: among the exiles were even the grandparents of future US president Harry Truman.
One of the most famous American bushwackers is William Clarke Quantrill, a legendary figure whose adventures are often as fictionalized as they are infamous, depending on who tells the tale. Quantrill’s guerrilla band, known as Quantrill’s Raiders, was formed in 1861 as a group of about a dozen men and quickly became a force to be reckoned with. Jesse James was a crackpot on Quantrill’s team, as was his brother, Frank, and his future accomplice, Coleman Younger. These men would later turn the hit-and-run tactics learned from Quantrill into one of the most notorious bank and train robberies in the American West.
The Lawrence Massacre, one of the bloodiest events in Kansas history, was a significant bush attack masterminded by Quantrill and his raiders. On August 21, 1863, at least 300 bushwackers descended upon the town of Lawrence, an epicenter of Union activism and a base of operations for the jayhawkers. Bushwackers sacked Lawrence, looting banks and shops, setting the town on fire and killing at least a hundred men. In retaliation, Union General Thomas Ewing evicted thousands of Missourians living in towns on the Kansas-Missouri border from their homes, and then systematically razed the border towns.
