William T. (Bloody Bill) Anderson

William T. Anderson (1840 - October 27, 1864), known by the nickname "Bloody Bill" Anderson, was one of the deadliest and most notorious pro-Confederate guerrilla leaders in the American Civil War.  Anderson led a band of volunteer partisan rangers that targeted Union loyalists and federal soldiers in the states of Missouri and Kansas.

Raised by a family of southerners in Kansas, Anderson began supporting himself by stealing and selling horses in 1862. After his father was killed by a Union loyalist judge, Anderson fled to Missouri. There he robbed travelers and killed several Union soldiers. In early 1863 he joined Quantrills's Raiders, a group of pro-Confederate guerrillas which operated along the Kansas–Missouri border. He became a skilled bushwhacker, earning the trust of the group's leaders, William Quantrill and George M. Todd. Anderson's bushwhacking marked him as a dangerous man and eventually led the Union to imprison his sisters. When one of them died in custody, Anderson devoted himself to revenge. He took a leading role in the Lawrence Massacre and later participated in the Battle of Baxter Springs, both of which occurred in 1863.

In late 1863, while Quantrill's Raiders spent the winter in Texas, animosity developed between Anderson and Quantrill. Anderson, perhaps falsely, implicated Quantrill in a murder, leading to the latter's arrest by Confederate authorities. Anderson subsequently returned to Missouri as the leader of his own group of raiders and became the most feared guerrilla in the state, killing and robbing dozens of Union soldiers and civilian sympathizers. Although Union supporters viewed him as incorrigibly evil, Confederate supporters in Missouri saw his actions as justified, possibly owing to their mistreatment by Union forces. In September 1864, Anderson led a raid on the town of Centralia, Missouri. Unexpectedly, his men were able to capture a passenger train, the first time Confederate guerrillas had done so. In what became known as the Centralia Massacre, Anderson's bushwhackers executed 24 unarmed Union soldiers on the train and set an ambush later that day that killed more than 100 Union militiamen. Anderson himself was killed in battle a month later.

Historians have made disparate appraisals of Anderson: some see him as a sadistic, psychopathic killer, but for others his actions cannot be separated from the general desperation and lawlessness of the time.  But there is one thing about which they ALL agree.....

William T. (Bloody Bill) Anderson died on October 27, 1864.