Jeptha Martin Crawford ^{2 3 4 5}

  General Notes:

Quantrill had not been long in his camp in Jackson County when news of the most cruel and dastardly deed perpetrated on two Blue Spring citizens was brought to his attention. They had not participated in any hostilities, but to callous Union commanders the only thing that mattered was that they were Southerners and therefore enemies. Some Union commanders adopted the thinking that the simple proximity to partisan camps was sufficient proof of guilt and male residents could expect no mercy. Wrote Penick: "It is next to impossible to fight these guerrillas on their own ground in the brush, where they have every advantage over us. We must make it unhealthy for the neighborhoods where they harbor them.... It is my intention, wherever I encounter a camp of bushwhackers, to take summary vengeance on those who I satisfactory reason to believe have knowledge of the existence of such a camp and do not report it."Thus Federal commanders who believed that guerrillas had camped in a neighborhood were authorized to shoot anyone who failed to report such contact to the closest Union post within forty-eight hours. In their futile efforts to kill or capture Quantrill's men, Penick ordered atrocities against civilians whom he believed aided or sheltered guerrillas. Earlier in November 1863 a Federal patrol had burned from two to twelve houses in the little neighborhood, leaving the families homeless. On January 29, 1863, John Saunders and Jeptha Crawford, two forty-year-old farmers, were seized from their homes in the Blue Springs area by Penick's men. Both men claimed to be neutral during the conflict. Saunders was taken on horseback to the house of John Burns, the Federal commander in Independence. In his front yard, Burns had Saunders shot. Burns then had his men ride back and burn down Saunders's home.Jeptha Crawford was married to Elizabeth Harris, a sister of Reuben Harris, whose son Thomas rode with Quantrill. Jeptha had nine children, the youngest of which was five years old. A neighbor recounted the murder: Mr. Crawford, an old man with a large family of children, was a Southern sympathizer, but had never taken up arms against the government. He went to the mill one day with a sack of corn to have it ground to make bread for his wife and children. He left home early in the morning\emdash was to be back by noon. Noon came, the wife had prepared dinner as best she could, but was waiting for her husband's return so she could have bread for their dinner. Two o'clock came and the husband was still absent. The children were hungry, crying for something to eat. The mother would say, "Papa will soon be here, then my darlings shall have something to eat." Three o'clock came, and the mother saw a company of soldiers approaching. They rode up to the door. The mother looked out and saw her husband (Jeptha) a prisoner in their midst. He was told to dismount. Then they shot him down before the eyes of his wife and children\emdash shot down like a wild beast. The mother was told to get out of the house with her children, as they were going to burn the house. She asked them to let her give her little children something to eat, as they had had nothing to eat since early morning. In answer to her appeal one of them snatched a brand from the fire and stuck it in the straw bed. Everything was soon in flames. The mother hastened from the house, snatching up a few things as she went. Her husband killed, her house burned, she and her little children turned out in the cold world, homeless and destitute….. . . . 0, how strange that men, made in the image of God could he so cruel and heartless."Being thrust into the harsh winter weather without provisions and shelter, Elizabeth Crawford sought shelter and comfort with some neighbors who had the courage and Christian charity to take her family in. There was nothing she had left but her family\emdash that and a hatred for the kind of men would do these things to peaceful citizens. Shortly after Quantrill's return, Elizabeth Crawford learned that he camped nearby. She took her four sons\emdash twenty-two-year-old William. \endash seventeen year old Marshall and fifteen year old Marion, and thirteen-year-old Riley \endash to the guerrillas' camp. She approached the colonel and said, "These are all I left. Take them and make soldiers of them." Riley was not only one youngest guerrillas, he was also one of the hardest fighters in Quantrill's band. It was said that he killed every Union soldier who fell into his hands. Like Jeptha Crawford, Samuel Kimberlin also had four young sons who - because of the brutality of Federal troops - left the grave of their father and the smoldering ashes of their homes to join Quantrill. On March 26 Quantrill took the Crawford brothers and ambushed unwary Federals patiently waiting for a Union patrol from Independence. Quantrill and Todd sprung from ambush along the east fork of the Little Blue, shooting five Federals from their saddles and running down and killing four more as they retreated. After the ambush Quantrill had the men loaded into a wagon and taken back to Independence with a message for Colonel Penick that the same fate awaited all of his soldiers who went - out into "Quantrill Country."As Quantrill settled back into his old haunts, he mulled over the stories from the Jackson County farmers of the depredations of Penick's troop and the Kansas soldiers. Kansans like James Lane, Eli Snyder, Hugh Fisher, Charles Jennison, Daniel R. Anthony, George Hoyt, and other radical abolition were causing all the trouble in Missouri, and Quantrill contemplated how get at them. Radical Union newspapers that fomented unrest among their readers were also in Kansas, along with the goods stolen from Missouri farmers. These goods were warehoused in Lawrence and guarded by black troops - before being auctioned off on the streets of Lawrence. Those residents of Lawrence not actually collaborating with the jayhawkers still gave their tacit approval to the criminal deeds they observed. Soldiers of the Kansas militia were housed there.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Residence, 1840, , Jackson, Missouri, United States. ⁷

• Occupation: Farmer, 3 Oct 1850, Sni A Bar, Jackson, Missouri, United States. ⁶

• Residence, 3 Oct 1850, Sni A Bar, Jackson, Missouri, United States. ⁸

• Occupation: Farmer, 8 Jul 1860, Sni A Bar, Jackson, Missouri, United States. ⁵

• Residence, 8 Jul 1860, Sni A Bar, Jackson, Missouri, United States. ⁵

Jeptha married Ann Elizabeth Harris on 30 Jan 1832 in , Jackson, Missouri, United States.¹ (Ann Elizabeth Harris was born in 1814 in , Patrick, Virginia, United States ⁹ and died on 29 Jan 1872 in Blue Springs, Jackson, Missouri, United States.)