Bloody Bill Anderson 1839 – 1864

Bloody Bill Anderson was regarded as one of the most ruthless killers of the American Civil War 1861-65 this was proved further when he executed several unarmed union soldiers with his pistols.  Bloody Bill was the  psychopathic leader of a gang of desperados and he indeed reached notoriety towards the end of the American Civil War.

William T Anderson was born in Kentucky in 1839 growing up near Huntsville in Randolph County Missouri but later in 1857 he moved with his family of one brother and three sisters to Agnes City in Kansas.

In later years Anderson was accused of stealing horses whilst he worked on a wagon train after supposedly conducting raids into Missouri for this very purpose.  Anderson's father was shot dead during this time in March 1862 when Anderson was 23 years old.  Reports that a local man had done the killing led Anderson and his brother Jim to confront the man and shoot him dead along with another man.  Now wanted for murder Anderson fled Kansas and went back to Missouri.

Around 1863, Anderson married a woman by the name of Bush Smith of Sherman County, Texas.  During December 1863, Anderson and his brother joined Quantrill and his company of guerrilla raiders and later became one of his officers.  Union soldiers arrested many of the relatives of members serving with Quantrill as a way to subdue them from carrying out further raids.  Andersons three sisters, Mary, Martha and Josephine were imprisoned with nine other women and held in a hotel in Kansas City, Missouri.

The building had allegedly been made structurally weak by Union soldiers when it was said that they had pulled away partitions and stabilizing posts.  On August 14th the building collapsed and killed four of the women inside it including Josephine.  Mary was severely injured and left crippled.

This is the incident that infuriated Anderson and enthused him to exact a terrible revenge on Union soldiers and Union civilians alike.  The Union army stated it was an accident as they were trying to make the hotel larger, but Anderson didn't believe them.

About 200 civilian men and boys were reported killed when Anderson along with Quantrill's Raiders  attacked Lawrence County, Kansas on August 21st 1863.  Most of the buildings were razed to the ground by fire and everything was destroyed.  Quantrill and his company then went to Texas to sit low for a while, three months later in March 1864 Anderson had a fall out with Quantrill and returned to Missouri and started his own band of guerrilla raiders.

Anderson made a name for himself when in 1864 he and his guerrillas attacked Union soldiers and civilian sympathizers and was also particularly savage in doing so, shooting prisoners and mutilating the dead.  It was reported that Andersons men hung the bloody scalps of their victims from the bridles of their horses. Anderson promised the aggression and terror would continue when he sent letters saying so to several newspaper publishers in Lexington, Missouri.  Andersons  group was later bolstered with an intake of new recruits including Frank and Jesse James who had originally rode with Quantrill.

Anderson kept his promise by raiding  Centralia on September 27th 1864.  Wearing Confederate army uniforms, Anderson and his group conducted merciless looting, burning and killing of the local inhabitants.  It was during this time that they also attacked a train of the Northern Missouri Railroad and robbed the passengers therein.  They captured 22 Union soldiers onboard who all ended up being shot at the side of the railway track.  They left one union soldier, a sergeant alive so that he could report what he had witnessed there on that day.

Later that day, the sergeant duly reported the atrocity to his superiors.  As consequence, Union Major A. V. Johnston and his men of the newly formed 39th Missouri mounted Infantry set off to apprehend Anderson and his bloody band.  Upon hearing about this, Anderson teamed up with guerrilla leader George Todd and amalgamated their forces.  This new bigger band of guerrillas fought and  successfully counter attacked Johnston's army.

Johnston's army was cut down by hundreds of guerrilla fighters , those who attempted to surrender were shot out of hand.  In all about 120 men and officers of the 39th Missouri infantry were slaughtered, their bodies being decapitated and mutilated.  This was now Andersons trade mark psychological terror tactic, designed to spread fear and enhance his reputation amongst the Union army.

Upon hearing about the massacre the Union army HQ sent a veteran and experienced campaign fighter, Colonel Samuel P Cox out to eliminate Anderson and his band of Guerrillas.  Anderson was located on October 26th 1864 in Ray County, Missouri near the hamlet of Albany of which today is part of Orrick County.

Cox lured Anderson into an ambush by getting Andersons men to attack first,  awaiting them were lines and line of riflemen.  The Union riflemen fired volley after volley into Anderson and his men and they were cut down.  Anderson himself was shot and he fell from his horse with a bullet through his head. He was only 25 years old at the time of his death.  Andersons remaining men, confused and disorganized, hastily retreated back into the country side, having suffered a major defeat.

Andersons identity was confirmed when a photograph of him and his wife along with a lock of hair from their infant child was discovered in his pockets.  Also legend has it that a silk cord with 53 knots tied into it was also found, the number of knots indicating how many men Anderson had personally killed. His horse also had a number of scalps attached to the bridle.

 Cox later gave an account of the battle:

"I had only about 300 men under my command and gave the word to stand their ground, this fight must be victory or death and not a man faltered. We dismounted at the wooden bridge leaving our horses in charge of the men with the commissary wagons. Crossing the bridge I stationed my men in the timber and gave explicit instructions not to begin shooting until I gave the command.

Lt. Baker was sent ahead to reconnoitre and bring on the fight with instructions to retreat through our line. Cas. Morton, now a retired brigadier general, of Washington, D.C., was sent to Baker with the word to start the fight. Baker dashed up to where Anderson and his men were having meal ground and getting provisions, and opened fire. Instantly Anderson and his men were in their saddles and gave chase to Baker, who retreated under instructions and came dashing through our line...

...Anderson and some 20 of his men came in their historic manner, with their bridle reins in their teeth and revolver in each hand. When my men opened fire, many of Anderson's command went down. Others turned and fled, but the grim old chieftain and two of his men went right through the line, shooting and yelling, and it was as Anderson and one of his men turned and came back that both of them were killed.

The celebrated (Capt.) Archie Clement, who had gone through our line with Anderson, kept right on across the bridge and stampeded my wagon train and its guards boy yelling to them to fly as the command was cut to pieces, and thinking it was one of their men, they ran and kept it up until I was a day or two getting them together again. In the hubbub, Clemens escaped. Clell Miller, afterwards a noted bank robber and a desperate character, was wounded in this fight and taken prisoner. It was with difficulty I restrained my men and the citizens from lynching him."

Bloody Bill Anderson's body were taken to Richmond, Missouri and there put on public display and photographed.  His body was dragged behind a horse through the streets before being buried in an unmarked grave in Richmond's, Pioneer Cemetery.