Max McCoy has always been interested in William C. Quantrill. After all, the Civil War guerrilla leader perpetrated one of his attacks just a few miles from where the journalist/author grew up.
McCoy will discuss his latest novel, "I, Quantrill" at 6:30 p.m. today at the Pittsburg Public Library. His talk will be free to the public, and copies of the book will be available for purchase.
"The book is about the last few weeks of Quantrill’s life," said McCoy during a telephone interview from Emporia State University, where he is now an assistant journalism professor.
He grew up in Baxter Springs, not far from where Quantrill attacked a column of troops under the leadership of Union Gen. James G. Blunt in October 1863. Blunt, who was commander of the District of the Frontier, was moving his headquarters from Fort Scott to Fort Smith, Ark.
"This was after Quantrill had burned Lawrence," McCoy said. "Blunt saw a group of riders outside Baxter Springs, thought it was a welcome party, and sent his military band up front to play."
Quantrill’s Raiders killed more than 80 of Blunt’s 100-member escort.
"Blunt did escape with his life, but Quantrill captured his sword and some personal papers," McCoy said. "That was a sore point for him the rest of his life."
McCoy read books about the Confederate guerrilla leader, some of which may not have been entirely accurate.
"I questioned the portrayal of Quantrill as a monster who tortured animals as a child," he said. "He did some brave things, rescued friends under fire, and tied up thousands of federal troops in the West. If the South had won the Civil War, he probably would have been regarded as a hero. But he really was plenty bad."
McCoy has written 15 novels, many backed by extensive historical research. For "I, Quantrill," he traveled to Kentucky, where the guerrilla leader spent his last few months before being shot in the back by federal guerrillas.
"He lingered for nearly a month, paralyzed from the chest down, until he died on June 6, 1865, at a Louisville, Ky., hospital," McCoy said. "My book is written in first-person, with Quantrill on his death bed, paralyzed, talking about his life. It was about like channeling him."
Quantrill converted to Catholicism before his death and was buried at St. John’s Catholic Cemetery -- for a while. His bones were dug up in 1887 by William Walter Scott, a childhood friend of his from Ohio. He sold some of them to the Kansas Historical Society, which were buried with military honors in 1992 at the Confederate Cemetery at Higginsville, Mo. "Quantrill’s skull was later used in fraternity initiation rituals in Ohio -- they'd put red Christmas lights in the eye sockets," McCoy said. "It was reburied on Oct. 30, 1992 in the Fourth Street Cemetery in Dover, Ohio. That devil Quantrill is finally at rest."
McCoy lived in Pittsburg for many years, and formerly worked as an investigative reporter for The Pittsburg Morning Sun and the Joplin Globe. His fiction debut, a novel titled "The Sixth Rider," was named the best first novel by the Western Writers of America.
On June 14, he’s scheduled to pick up another award from the WWA. His novel "Hellfire Canyon" has selected for the Spur Award for best original paperback of the year.
That novel deals with another historical character, a serial killer named Alf Bolin who operated with his gang from a hideout at Murder Rocks, only a few miles from today’s downtown Branson, Mo.
"Alf was over 7 feet tall, had bright red hair and was very well read — he often used literary quotes when he spoke," McCoy said.
He has also written four "Indiana Jones" adventures for Lucasfilm. A crystal skull figures prominently in his series, and the new Indiana Jones moving coming out May 22 also features a crystal skull.
Is there a connection here?
"I haven’t seen the movie, so I don’t know if there is or not," McCoy said. "But it’s safe to say that I did introduce the crystal skull in the Indiana Jones canon, and they have re-issued those four novels."
He’s currently working on a non-fiction book about Kansas meteorite hunters, and will serve as coordinator for the Tallgrass Writing Workshop, scheduled June 28 and 29. In a sense, he has come full circle.
"I got my start at the Tallgrass workshop," McCoy said. "That’s where I met the person who became my editor at Doubleday."
