Your choice of white or . Gen. John McNeil, the "Butcher of Palmyra." Two hesitated coming down the steps. Only advantage would have been if you were behind a barrier, in a gun battle. [Map inset] Nearby Civil War attractions include Pioneer Cemetery and Ray County Museum in Richmond, Mo. They may be found on the 1850 Census of Randolph County,MO. [Photo captions, clockwise from top left, read] Pioneer Cemetery. [30] The first reference to Anderson in Official Records of the American Civil War concerns his activities at this time, describing him as the captain of a band of guerrillas. Quantrill expelled him and warned him not to come back, and the man was fatally shot by some of Quantrill's men when he attempted to return. The Union militias sometimes rode slower horses and may have been intimidated by Anderson's reputation. [154] Most Confederate guerrillas had lost heart by then, owing to a cold winter and the simultaneous failure of General Price's 1864 invasion of Missouri, which ensured the state would remain securely under Union control for the rest of the war. So . Anderson remained in Agnes City until he learned that Baker would not be charged, as the judge's claim of self-defense had been accepted by legal authorities. Burial. [108] Anderson's band then rode back to their camp, taking a large amount of looted goods. [69], In early July, Anderson's group robbed and killed several Union sympathizers in Carroll and Randolph counties. A wide-brimmed slouch hat was the headgear of choice. Anthony Edwards as "Goose" in Top Gun (1986) : In one of the passenger cars they found 23 unarmed Union soldiers on furlough and headed home on leave. The tortures included jumping on him, shooting at his legs and firing guns from his knee to burn his legs with powder. 1. [88] On August 27, Union soldiers killed at least three of Anderson's men in an engagement near Rocheport. Operating against Unionists in the midst of the guerrilla war in Missouri and Kansas, he was a leading figure in the infamous Lawrence Massacre and the Centralia Massacre, gaining the nickname "Bloody Bill" for the perceived savagery of his exploits. [141] On October 26, 1864, he pursued Anderson's group with 150 men and engaged them in a battle called the Skirmish at Albany, Missouri. [Map inset] Nearby Civil War attractions include Pioneer Cemetery and Ray County Museum in Richmond, Mo. Notorious Confederate bushwhacker Bloody Bill Anderson Three bushwackers; Arch Clements, Dave Pool, and Bill Hendricks. After Frank and Jesse James joined the Anderson band, they robbed a train of $3,000 and executed 25 Union soldiers on board. Anderson suggested that they attack Fayette, Missouri, targeting the 9th Missouri Cavalry, which was based at the town. By the time the war started, Missouri's pro-rebel guerrillas were known as . My 1888 Luscomb #b. His dark good looks brought him to the attention . Cox's bugler gathered up 6 pistols around the body. He thought the cashier was an informant. eHistory website entry (Submitted on October 1, 2020, by William Fischer, Jr. of Scranton, Pennsylvania.) Bloody Bill dead. After the robbery, the group was intercepted by a United States Marshal accompanied by a large posse,[28] about 150 miles (240km) from the KansasMissouri border. [101] Anderson's men quickly took control of the train, which included 23 off-duty, unarmed Union soldiers as passengers. More lies and sensationalized stories have been told of William T. Anderson than any other Civil War Border War guerrilla except those of William Clarke Quantrill himself. Anyway, as Baker had achieved his mission & as Anderson & his troops entered the ambush. At the end of P.R. Gen. Henry Halleck's General Orders No. One of the leading authorities on the Civil War in the western theater, Albert Edward Castel earned his B.A. [33] In August 1863, however, Union General Thomas Ewing, Jr. attempted to thwart the guerrillas by arresting their female relatives,[34] and Anderson's sisters were confined in a three-story building on Grand Avenue in Kansas City with a number of other girls. Actor: Rio Bravo. This may help as far as relatives of Bloody Bill Anderson,who was William T.Anderson born 1839,son of William Anderson and Martha Thomasson. For the more effectual annoyance of the enemy upon our rivers and in our mountains and woods all citizens of this district who are not conscripted are called upon to organize themselves into independent companies of mounted men or infantry, as they prefer, arming themselves and to serve in that part of the district to which they belong. Eventually, the six-shot revolver became the weapon of choice for the bushwhacker because it was considered better for firing from horseback. And a lot of the Cavalry didn't have sidearms early in the war. An unusual event made a guerrilla out of William Anderson. [143] Only Anderson and one other man, the son of a Confederate general, continued to charge after the others had retreated. Anderson was described as "nearly six feet tall, of rather swarthy complexion and had long, black hair, inclined to curl. Born in the late 1830s, Concluding that eliminating the bushw[h]acker's support network would help end guerilla fighting, Brig. I do not claim to be an expert on guerrilla warfare in Missouri but am a student of the war in general. Gen. John McNeil, the "Butcher of Palmyra." It could be interpreted that the bugler picked up a total of 6 pistols that belonged, possibly to the other men that fell with Anderson. Anderson was fatally shot twice in the back of the head. [59] It is likely that this incident angered Anderson, who then took 20 men to visit the town of Sherman. . There he met Baker, who temporarily placated him by providing a lawyer. Guerrilla Tactics [13] Anderson had told a neighbor that he sought to fight for financial reasons rather than out of loyalty to the Confederacy. [29] In the resulting skirmish, several raiders were captured or killed and the rest of the guerrillas, including Anderson, split into small groups to return to Missouri. [107] The guerrillas set the passenger train on fire and derailed an approaching freight train. [38], Although Quantrill had considered the idea of a raid on the pro-Union stronghold that was the town of Lawrence, Kansas before the building collapsed in Kansas City, the deaths convinced the guerrillas to make a bold strike. [24] Confederate General Sterling Price failed to gain control of Missouri in his 1861 offensive and retreated into Arkansas, leaving only partisan rangers and local guerrillas known as "bushwhackers" to challenge Union dominance. 1840-1864. They opposed the Union army in Missouri for a variety of reasons. Anderson was hit by a bullet behind an ear, likely killing him instantly. William T. "Bloody Bill" Anderson (circa 1838 - October 26, 1864) was a pro-Confederate guerrilla leader in the American Civil War. [52] Not satisfied with the number killed, Anderson and Todd wished to attack the fort again, but Quantrill considered another attack too risky. . On March 12, 1864, in the midst of a bloody war which had long overflowed its thimble, Margaret Brooks was returning from her home near Memphis, Tennessee when her wagon broke down in Nonconnah Creek. [124] Anderson watched the fire from nearby bluffs. [54] During the winter, Anderson married Bush Smith, a woman from Sherman, Texas. Anderson led a band that targeted Union loyalists and Federal soldiers in Missouri and Kansas. By the time of his death in 1864 Anderson had become one of the most sought after men in Missouri and had left a trail of blood and hatred across the west and central portions of the state. While on public display, a local photographer documented his death. You certainly wouldn't do that aboard a horse. He angered Anderson by ordering his forces to withdraw. [127] Although many of them wished to execute this Union hostage, Anderson refused to allow it. Among his troops was a well-established group of guerrilla fighters led by William Anderson, who was known by the nickname " Bloody Bill ." Among his guerrillas was a pair of southern Missouri brothers named Frank and Jesse James. After hearing of the engagement, General Fisk commanded a colonel to lead a party with the sole aim of killing Anderson. There were those that came & went and the largest number had to have been the raid on Lawrence. [151] In 1908, Cole Younger, a former guerrilla who served under Quantrill, reburied Anderson's body in the Old Pioneer Cemetery in Richmond, Missouri. [8] After settling there, the Anderson family became friends with A.I. [16] In May 1862, Judge Baker issued an arrest warrant for Griffith, whom Anderson helped hide. [80] In 1863, most Union troops left Missouri and only four regiments remained there. [Photo captions, clockwise from top left, read] , . declared martial law in August 1861, giving Union forces broad powers to suppress those who resisted Union control. The Gun manufacturers did not provide extra cylinders for each firearm sold. [96] Although a large group of guerrillas was assembled, their leaders felt there were no promising targets to attack because all of the large towns nearby were heavily guarded. In July of 1864 Anderson moved his operations to Carroll and Randolph Counties. The order was intended to undermine the guerrillas' support network in Missouri. Gen. Thomas C. Hindman was the head of the Confederate Army's Trans Mississippi Department in Little Rock, Ark. He was the son of a hatter who an enthusiastic pro-slavery man would often abandon his family for long periods to go gold prospecting. Anderson led a band of volunteer partisan raiders who targeted Union loyalists and federal soldiers in the states of Missouri and Kansas. [62][g] Quantrill was taken into custody but soon escaped. He favored swift execution of captured guerrillas. [143] The victory made a hero of Cox and led to his promotion. Anderson reached a Confederate Army camp; although he hoped to kill some injured Union prisoners there, he was prevented from doing so by camp doctors. He was buried in a nearby fieldafter a soldier cut off one of his fingers to steal a ring. The residents of Lawrence, Kansas, would never forget what happened on August 21, 1863, if indeed they were lucky enough to survive. He sees Anderson as obsessed with, and greatly enjoying, the ability to inflict fear and suffering in his victims, and suggests he suffered from the most severe type of sadistic personality disorder. [6] Kansas was at the time embroiled in an ideological conflict regarding its admission to the Union as slave or free, and both pro-slavery activists and abolitionists had moved there in attempts to influence its ultimate status. Other nearby markers. Bloody Bill pulled his revolver, shot and killed both. His family had been living in Council Grove, Territory of Kansas at the start of the war. [139], Union military leaders assigned Lieutenant Colonel Samuel P. Cox to kill Anderson, providing him with a group of experienced soldiers. Bushwhacker activities in Missouri increased as a response to Federal occupation and increasingly brutal attacks and raids by Kansas soldiers, or jayhawkers. William T. Anderson (1839 - October 26, 1864), better known as "Bloody Bill," was one of the deadliest and most brutal pro-Confederate guerrilla leaders in the American Civil War.Anderson led a band of Missouri Partisan rangers* that targeted Union loyalists and Federal soldiers in Missouri and Kansas. They attacked the fort on October 6, but the 90 Union troops there quickly took refuge inside, suffering minimal losses. He addressed the prisoners, castigating them for the treatment of guerrillas by Union troops. Guerrilla Tactics , William Quantrill and William "Bloody Bill" Anderson are well-known bushwhacker leaders in Missouri. Richeson, Richerson, Richardson originally from Taylor County, Kentucky. It is in Richmond in Ray County Missouri, "The war brought on hate and strife and killing around here. Longley's Bloody Bill Anderson Mystery Group on July 13, 2009: " Francis M Richardson was a carpenter as shown in the 1860 Grayson County Texas Census. Assuming, of course, that you're brave enough to get within handgun range of those animals. (, In his biography of Quantrill, historian Duane Schultz counters that General, Some accounts of Anderson's death relate that he was decapitated and his head impaled on a telegraph pole. (. [41], Arriving in Lawrence on August 21, the guerrillas immediately killed a number of Union Army recruits and one of Anderson's men took their flag. The muzzle-loaders required no special ammunition or training and were effective out to about seventy-five or one hundred yards. The Union troops took his body to Richmond, Mo. A lack of Confederate military presence in Missouri led Southern sympathizers to form guerrilla groups to harass Union soldiers and pro-Union citizens. Anderson, William William T. "Bloody Bill" Anderson was born in Kentucky in 1839; he migrated with his family from Missouri to the Council Grove, Kansas area before the war. [47] The raiding party was pursued by Union forces but eventually managed to break contact with the soldiers and scatter into the Missouri woods. [149] Some of them cut off one of his fingers to steal a ring. After hearing their accusations against his sons, he was incensedhe found Baker's involvement particularly infuriating. Community & Conflict website entry (Submitted on October 1, 2020, by William Fischer, Jr. of Scranton, Pennsylvania.) [1] There he robbed travelers and killed several Union soldiers. They also burnt Baker's home and stole two of his horses before returning to Missouri on the Santa Fe Trail. Desperate to put a stop to Anderson's bloodshed, the Union Army eventually raised a small militia to hunt him down. . [1] By 1860, the young William T. Anderson was a joint owner of a 320-acre (1.3km2) property that was worth $500;[c] his family had a total net worth of around $1,000. [158] He was later discussed in biographies of Quantrill, which typically cast Anderson as an inveterate murderer. They will receive pay and allowance for subsistence and forage for the time actually in the field, as established by the affadavits of their captains. Cox stated that he went out & took one of Anderson's pistols along with money & a gold watch. They claimed to be fighting for the Confederacy, but in fact, their murdering and looting benefited only their pocketbooks. [75] As Anderson's profile increased, he was able to recruit more guerrillas. [45] The guerrillas under Anderson's command, notably including Archie Clement and Frank James, killed more than any of the other group. Posted on 19th March 2021. En route, they entered Baxter Springs, Kansas, the site of Fort Blair. Maupin, pictured above. The Union troops took his body to Richmond, Mo. ; and Confederate Memorial State Historic Site in Higginsville, Mo. He became a skilled bushwhacker, earning the trust of the group's leaders, William Quantrill and George M. Todd.