This reunion pin is a round gold pin suspended from a bar by short lengths of gold chain; a picture of a young Quantrill is in the center. The pin may be from the “Sixth Annual Reunion of Survivors of Quantrill’s Guerrillas at Independence, MO August 22, 1903,” as the image is similar to the one on the Sixth Annual Reunion Ribbon.
William Quantrill, the famous Confederate guerrilla commander, gained his greatest notoriety on August 21, 1863, when he and his band raided the pro-abolitionist town of Lawrence, Kansas, killed approximately 200 men and teenage boys and burned much of the business district.
Much like other Civil War military organizations, the survivors of Quantrill’s band held regular reunions in Missouri through the early Twentieth century.
Images Courtesy Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield; WICR 30213 & 30214
