The Lemoyne Raiders are an antagonistic faction featured in Red Dead Redemption 2 and Red Dead Online.
History[]
Background[]
The Lemoyne Raiders are made up of both Confederate veterans and recruited, disenfranchised young men with reactionary views. As a result, they are deeply racist, anti-government, and have a bitter desire for revenge against the North. Structured like a militia, the group initially formed up as a neo-Confederate organization that was appreciated by locals before they became nothing more than a nuisance. Terrorizing the town of Rhodes and on a much smaller scale Saint Denis being more feared than respected. They are involved in numerous rackets, from trading moonshine with the Braithwaite family, among various other illicit goods, to selling arms to buyers in South American countries.
Outlaws by nature, the group is also violent, being known for murders and robberies of northerners, government officials, and law-abiding citizens alike throughout Lemoyne. They are extremely territorial and vengeful, prone to launching retributions against those who antagonize them. Their superior arms and training make them more dangerous than most gangs, as they will organize effective ambushes against the player instead of chaotically attacking them on sight.
Events of Red Dead Online[]
Members can be encountered occupying several gang hideouts, which the player can opt to clear. Otherwise, they may ambush them in random encounters, Stranger missions, and at the drop off location of Trader deliveries.
Frontier Pursuits[]
At some point prior to 1898, Cecil C. Tucker associated himself with the Lemoyne Raiders in exchange for their protection. If the protagonist becomes a bounty hunter, they can hunt down Tucker for the bounty on his head, who will be at Fort Brennand alongside a number of Lemoyne Raiders.
A Life of 'Shine[]
Several Lemoyne Riders appear as enemies in the missions "Where There is Smoke, There's Firewater" and "A Bitter Means To the Bitter End", where they guard the Braithwaite family's moonshine production operations, which the player must sabotage. They also appear as hired guns for the Braithwaites in "The Certainty of Death and Taxes", where the player must fight through them to capture Danny-Lee Caton.
Events of Red Dead Redemption 2[]
Clemens Point Chapter[]
The Lemoyne Raiders are first encountered when Sheriff Leigh Gray sends Dutch, Arthur, and Bill to accompany Archibald MacGregor in shutting down one of their moonshining operations. The assault is successful, and the Van der Linde gang take the moonshine for themselves. Around the same time, Arthur and Sadie have their wagon stopped by several Lemoyne Raiders who wish to rob them. Sadie shoots at one of them, initiating a battle in which the group of Raiders are slain.
After talking to the black community in Rhodes, Lenny learns that the Raiders keep a large stash of weapons at one of their plantation houses. The pair keep their distance as they follow the wagon, until the plantation house comes into view. The two then attack the house, and kill the bandits there. They then seize the wagon and ride away with it, but on the way back, a group of Raiders intercept and assault them. The two manage to bring them down, and they eventually return to camp with their prize.
Arthur encounters the Lemoyne Raiders soon afterwards when he assists Hosea in giving away some moonshine for the Braithwaite family that they took from the Lemoyne Raiders at an earlier date. A group of Lemoyne Raiders confront the two in the saloon, and a gunfight breaks out. The two manage to fight their way out of the saloon and successfully arrive back at camp.
Saint Denis Chapter[]
The Lemoyne Raiders are encountered for the last time when Arthur and John are sent to Shady Belle to clear it out, in order to make it the gang's next camp location. When the duo arrive at Shady Belle, they are attacked by two Lemoyne Raiders. They are shot dead, and afterwards, Arthur ventures upstairs and kills two more Raiders taking shelter in the upstairs rooms. He then finds an elderly Lemoyne Raider in the master bedroom. Unless the player kills him before, during or immediately after the speech he gives,[1] he then proceeds to shoot himself in the head with a revolver, ending his own life. With the plantation house now free from the Lemoyne Raiders' presence, the Van der Linde gang move in. However, at the end of the chapter the gang abandons Shady Belle and it is seemingly retaken by the Raiders sometime between 1899 and 1907.
The protagonist can also encounter the leader of the gang, Lindsey Wofford, if they take his bounty, which can be obtained from the Saint Denis Police Department. A skirmish ensues in Fort Brennand, where Wofford is either killed or apprehended, and his men are gunned down. Due to Wofford's high price of $100, rival bounty hunters usually attack the player on their way back to Saint Denis. Once there, Wofford's corpse is dumped in a cart behind the police station if he was killed, or if he was brought in alive, he is put in a cell and publicly hanged a few days later.
Later in 1899, a newspaper article reports that most of the Lemoyne Raiders members have fled to areas in Texas after repeated clashes with the government and law enforcement.[2] It is also stated that Lemoyne Raiders are well received in Texas, as the locals share their disdain for paying taxes and the U.S government.
By the time of the epilogue in 1907, the Lemoyne Raiders can still be found throughout Lemoyne, but to a lesser extent than they could eight years prior.
Members[]
- Lindsey Wofford - Leader; captured or killed by either Arthur Morgan or John Marston
- Camille de Millemont - captured or killed by either Arthur Morgan or John Marston
- William Marcus Anderson
- Veterans of the 3rd Lemoyne Regiment
Associates[]
- Cecil C. Tucker - Captured or killed by the Red Dead Online protagonist.
- Billy Lime
- Braithwaite family
Locations[]
- Hideouts: Shady Belle
- Abandoned church
- Fort Brennand
- Possible camps:
- West of the "D" in Scarlett Meadows
- Southwest of the first "A" in Scarlett Meadows
- Eris Field: just east of the "g" in Ringneck Creek
- Northwest of Radley's House
Missions appearances[]
- Red Dead Redemption 2
- "Further Questions of Female Suffrage"
- "American Distillation"
- "Advertising, The New American Art"
- "Preaching Forgiveness as He Went"
- "The Battle of Shady Belle"
- Bounty Hunting
Red Dead Online
- Bounty Hunting
- "Where There is Smoke, There's Firewater"
- "A Bitter Means To the Bitter End"
- "The Certainty of Death and Taxes"
Trivia[]
- The Lemoyne Raiders shares similarities with the real-life Quantrill's Raiders, a pro-Confederate militia active during the American Civil War of which Jesse James and his brother, Frank James, had served as members.
- Additionally, a letter[3] that can be looted from the corpse of a Lemoyne Raider in a random encounter alludes to the Lawrence Massacre, an infamous raid conducted by Quantrill's Raiders on August 21, 1863, in which the group attacked the town of Lawrence, Kansas, targeting Unionists, abolitionists, and freedmen.
- They also resemble the real-life white supremacist paramilitary groups, the White League and Red Shirts, in several respects. Both also had veteran soldiers of the Confederacy in its ranks and focused on attacking those who they perceived as against their cause, such as African Americans, Whites who supported the Republican Party in the South, and Northerners. Just like the Lemoyne Raiders, their origins were initially well-received.
- The Lemoyne Raiders may also be based off another real-life confederate militia called "Logan Wildcats". Furthermore, the Logan Wildcats were affiliated with the Hatfields in the infamous Hatfield-McCoy feud, from which the Braithwaite-Gray feud takes inspiration.
- The Raiders can launch a very dangerous ambush under the rail bridge near Hill Haven Ranch. A gang of 8-12 mounted Raiders will storm the player without warning and attempt to kill them. Mortality rates for the protagonist are notoriously high in this ambush.
- The player is able to equip and keep two unique hats from select enemies in random Lemoyne Raider camps. They are the Military Officer's Hat and the Military Forage Cap, which when equipped will be stored in the Stolen Hats category of the player's wardrobe. There are additional unique hats that the Lemoyne Raiders wear as well, but they cannot be saved.
- In a random encounter in Saint Denis at night near the Quincy Harris Memorial Hall, two possible Lemoyne Raiders in disguise quickly throw Fire Bottles at city hall before running away. Left behind on a wall is some writing which reads 'Lemoyne Is a Free State'.
- Another random encounter can occur when passing by Catfish Jacksons. The Raiders launch an ambush on the player with a wagon mounted Gatling Gun, while reinforcements arrive and attack the player. Due to a lack of cover, this can be a difficult fight.
- Compared to the guns dropped by other gangs, the guns the Lemoyne Raiders use, especially those belonging to older and possibly veteran members, are much less likely to be worn and may even be pristine. This is due to most of the veteran members prior time in the Army, which was likely who taught them how to properly maintain their weapon.
- There is a file containing thirty-three masked Lemoyne Raiders which is used in "Advertising, The New American Art". However, only one of these masked raiders spawn during the mission although the appearance is chosen at random, making it likely that they were originally intended for something else.
Gallery[]
Notes[]
- ↑ "I knew you'd come, soon enough. You, or some other coward like you. The Bounty Hunters, The Freedmen, The Carpetbaggers, The army of criminals who stole our land and our government. I survived them all. Our fight will Live on!".
- ↑ They Have Fled
- ↑ Lemoyne Raiders Letter